The Tezos Foundation recently announced that PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Switzerland branch will audit the foundation’s operations and finances. This is notably the first time a major blockchain organization will be audited by PwC.
PwC is a multinational firm based in London, part of the “Big Four”, which refers to the four biggest professional services networks in the world. The giant financial firm has over 200,000 employees and provides accounting, auditing, legal, and tax services to its clients in 158 different countries.
Tezos To Be Examined
Now, presumably in an attempt to gain the confidence and trust of the crypto community, the Tezos foundation stated in its press release that it is “committed to operating with the highest degree of integrity.” Tezos’ press release reads:
The Foundation is committed to operating with the highest degree of integrity in the service of our mission to support the Tezos protocol, ecosystem, and community. Engaging a top-tier independent external auditor ensures that the Tezos community and its observers can trust our operations and use of finances.
Notably, there was a lot of hype surrounding the Tezos project, which helped it raise $232 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) in July 2017. The controversial project was heavily backed by Tim Draper, a well-known venture capitalist and crypto billionaire.
Notably, there were a number of lawsuits filed against Tezos shortly after it completed its ICO, forcing it to replace its president and two other executives in February. In April, Tezos’ co-founder Arthur Breitman had to pay a $20,000 fine to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
The fine was over alleged false statements regarding his side business project, while employed at Morgan Stanley, a US-based multinational investment bank. Due to the project’s legal troubles, its beta platform only launched late last month on June 30.
PwC announced in March a plan to launch an auditing service for blockchain-related companies. Per the auditor, several firms had already registered for its service before its launch. In May, PwC also revealed its acquisition of a minority stake in VeChain, a blockchain-based platform that focuses on supply chain management and provides financial and anti-counterfeiting services
