The Tezos Foundation has announced the Tezos project, which raised over $232 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) designed to improve blockchain governance and encourage innovation, will launch its mainnet on September 17.
The project has seen famous bitcoin billionaire and venture capitalist Tim Draper, who recently claimed the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s market cap will hit $80 trillion in the next 15 years, invest in it. It promises a unique proof-of-stake blockchain designed to adapt to changing technology and allow for “on-china-governance” where stakeholders will be able to decide on its future.
Have a great weekend, everyone, because mainnet arrives Monday!
— Tezos Foundation (@TezosFoundation) September 14, 2018
Following the announcement Tezos’ Tezzie (XTZ) tokens saw their price pump nearly 30% in anticipation of the mainnet’s launch. Although the project already had a live blockchain version and its tokens were already tradeable, it could’ve been halted at any time as it wasn’t the project’s mainnet.
The project has notably been through a difficult time as controversy between the leadership and various class-action lawsuits accusing the foundation of investor fraud set it back. Its XTZ tokens have, as a result of the controversy and the bear market, dropped from a near $6 high to little over $1.1.
At press time, according to CryptoCompare data, they’re trading at $1.7 after rising 28% in the last 24-hour period.
Whether Tezos’ tokens will be able to sustain its growth is at press time unclear, although past surges related to mainnet launches in the cryptocurrency ecosystem have more often than not seen prices drop as soon as the excitement wears off.
As CryptoGlobe covered in June the Tezos Foundation provoked the community when it announced on its website that users who wanted access to its tokens would need to undergo know-your-customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks.
The Tezos Foundation, as reported in July, hired PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to audit its operations and finances. PwC is notably one of the “Big Four,” which refers to the four biggest professional services networks in the world. The giant financial firm has over 230,000 employees and provides accounting, legal, auditing, and tax services to its clients.
The project has also recently announced funding for TezTech, a Tezos-focused software development program with several projects under its belt.
