Tezos
What is Tezos?
Tezos is a blockchain project that aims to establish a decentralized governance platform with an underlying cryptocurrency token. Tezos has been designed as a governance-focused platform, enabling stakeholders to make decisions via the use of smart contracts and Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus.
Tezos Price
Brief History
Arthur Breitman and his wife Kathleen founded Tezos in 2014, aiming to address governance in blockchain systems. They wrote two papers under the pseudonym “L.M. Goodman”, referencing a Newsweek article that claimed to have identified Satoshi Nakamoto.”
In 2017, the Tezos Foundation, a Swiss-based non-profit, raised $232 million in a fundraiser. The fundraiser, one of the biggest ICOs that year, included notable venture capitalist Tim Draper as a participant.
The Tezos Foundation is a non-profit organization with its headquarter in Zug, Switzerland. In 2017, the foundation raised $232 million via an ICO crowdfunding campaign.
Tezos Governance
Tezos is a blockchain project that aims to have the governance system evolve for itself. Governance in the context of blockchains is an important topic. A lot of projects have realized that their initial governance model won’t work long term. With Tezos, they propose a self-amending crypto-ledger with on-chain governance.
A protocol change in Tezos can only be implemented after a four-week voting period. The specific proposals that gain the support of a supermajority of active voters are then given two and a half days to reach another supermajority threshold. If they do so, the change is implemented immediately.
Every three months, stakeholders can vote on proposed changes to the protocol, which require at least 20% approval from active Tezos coin-holders and a 100% approval from all stakeholders.
What makes Tezos unique?
Tezos has been able to sidestep the cryptocurrency infrastructure that other coins depend on. It is a decentralized blockchain that is being developed within a legally recognized organization and with its own corporate business regulations.
Tezos isn’t directly tied to a particular blockchain platform, like Ethereum. Instead, it is a self-evolving platform, meaning the developers have some control over what can (or will) be built on it. Tezos allows stakeholders to better manage the protocol and upgrade it over time via token holder consensus.
Tezos is also unique in how it has started being used by top-profile companies. In September of 2020, it was announced that the giant French banking conglomerate Societe Generale planned to use this blockchain to experiment with a digital currency developed by the central bank.
Tezos Design
Freer, more secure smart contracts. A self-amending consensus mechanism for increased stability. Tezos supports smart contract functions in a domain specific language called Michelson with the potential to handle millions of transactions per second. The Tezos foundation will act as a medium between the core development team and the community while maintaining full decentralization.
The Tezos protocol features a substantial block delay, making transactions more fluid and giving users more control over their assets. All Tezos smart contracts are written in Michelson, a Turing-complete language that will be utilized for future updates and upgrades.
Tezos is the first self aware blockchain, allowing formal verification of smart contracts before they are activated. The baking protocol lets people easily participate in the network.
“Baking” Tezos
In blockchain consensus processes, those who contribute resources to secure the network are rewarded for their efforts. Tezos turns this concept on its head. Those who contribute resources to secure the network are actually cooking, a process that validates 8,000 XTZ per cycle. This creates an incentive for honest participation.
Holders of XTZ can choose to share in the staking rewards that bakers receive from validating new blocks on the Tezos blockchain. If you do not participate or delegate your XTZ, you run the risk of losing some of its value to inflation as new XTZ tokens are distributed by holders of XTZ. The current rate is 3.6%.