UPDATED 21:08 EDT / FEBRUARY 22 2018

EMERGING TECH

Tezos purges president in effort to put $233M blockchain ICO back on track

Troubled blockchain startup Tezos, which raised $233 million in an initial coin offering in July, may be partially back on track after Tezos Foundation President Johann Gevers “voluntarily stepped down” from his position.

The drama at Tezos emerged in October when the founders of the Tezos code, Arthur and Kathleen Breitman of Dynamic Ledger Solutions Inc., declared war on Gevers, the president of the foundation set up to run the ICO along with promoting and developing the computer network.

The Breitmans were demanding the foundation board remove Gevers from his position because of alleged “self-dealing, self-promotion and conflicts of interest.” Gevers counted the accusations by saying that the Breitmans were attempting an illegal coup based on an “attempted character assassination” that included a “long laundry list of misleading statements and outright lies.”

According to a statement from the foundation, Gevers, along with Diego Olivier Fernandez Pons, have both stepped down. Ryan Jesperson was appointed president and he and Michel Mauny appointed directors.

Jesperson is described by the foundation as a leading figure in the Tezos community who was previously chief operating officer at a fintech company called Divvy. A Utah native, Jesperson has a LinkedIn profile that notes that he was previously a Mormon missionary before working at a nongovernmental organization dedicated to “helping the poor in developing countries.” Tezos isn’t poor but it but certainly needs help.

With the board purge of Gevers now complete, seemingly settling the internal issues, Forbes reported that the foundation will now issue the tokens, called “Tezzies,” sold in the July ICO to investors.

While that move is better late than never, Tezos itself though is still facing multiple class action lawsuits. One suit filed in November alleged that Tezos founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, Dynamic Ledger Solutions and Tezos Foundation sold unregistered securities in violation of federal and state securities laws.

In addition, the lawsuit claimed that the defendants fraudulently and deceptively marketed the sale of Tezzies as equity investments when they were instead filed as charitable contributions, allowing the defendants to pocket “tens of millions of dollars” for themselves.

Image: Tezos

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