Tezos, one of the high profile ICOs of 2017, is finally going live after months of legal disputes. The project has been in the test phase since June 2018 when its XTZ tokens became tradable.
Tezos Mainnet Finally Comes Online
On Friday (September 14th, 2018), the Tezos Foundation confirmed the mainnet launch for Monday (September 17th, 2018). This launch effectively introduces the full Tezos protocol without any “kill switch” or centralized control.
In reality, the Tezos platform has been live since June 2018 with users able to “bake” XTZ (the native token of the protocol’s ecosystem). However, the betanet could be paused for maintenance at any time.
Have a great weekend, everyone, because mainnet arrives Monday!
— Tezos Foundation (@TezosFoundation) September 14, 2018
The arrival of the full mainnet iteration signals a successful testnet phase. At the start of the beta version, the protocol was only open to the Tezos Foundation. A few weeks into the test, third-party validators could function on the platform.
Ryan Jesperson, President of the Tezos Foundation, had earlier stated in a letter to the platform’s community that the Foundation won’t hold any central control on the project, saying:
I want to reiterate the Foundation’s commitment to communicating with the community. As I have said, the Foundation does not seek to be, nor attempt to serve as, some kind of central authority with regard to Tezos. But know that we are committed to communicating more openly about the Foundation’s role and our efforts to support this vibrant and strong community.
XTZ Breakout Stalls
In anticipation of the mainnet launch, the price of Tezos tokens (XTZ) surged by more than 30 percent over the weekend. However, a pullback soon occurred which took the price down from $1.75 to $1.60.
This surge follows a similar pattern set last week following the announcement that the project would be looking into the video game market. At that time, XTZ rose by 27.5 percent in a little under an hour.
A New Dawn for Tezos
With the arrival of the Tezos mainnet, the project may begin to deliver on the hype that surrounded it back in 2017. The Tezos ICO raised more than $230 million in July 2017, becoming one of the highest earning cryptocurrency crowdsales of the year.
Following the ICO, the project suffered a series of setbacks, most of which arose from the dispute between Johann Gevers, the former Tezos Foundation chief, and Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, the project’s founders. The project has also suffered legal troubles in the United States causing delays in critical developmental activities.
In August, the Tezos Foundation announced the launch of a $50 million USD venture fund for blockchain-based startups.
Will the mainnet launch signal a new positive direction for the much-beleaguered Tezos blockchain project? Keep the conversation going in the comment section below.
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