Tezos director resigns

One of the three board members of the Swiss foundation that conducted the online fundraiser for the embattled Tezos cryptocurrency tech project has resigned.

According to Reuters, the departure of Guido Schmitz-Krummacher, a Swiss legal and management expert, is likely to add further turmoil to the project, which raised $232 million in cryptocurrencies in July.

The project has been embroiled in a battle over control between its founders, Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, and the president of the Zug-based Tezos Foundation, Johann Gevers. Reuters detailed the feud in October.

Schmitz-Krummacher resigned because he was frustrated by the infighting, which was consuming a lot of his time, according to information obtained by Reuters. He sits on several dozen Swiss boards.

Under the foundation’s bylaws, Gevers gets to nominate Schmitz-Krummacher’s replacement. If the third board member votes against the candidate, Gevers can cast an overriding vote.

Representatives for the board and for the Breitmans did not immediately respond to separate requests for comment.

The Breitmans own the Tezos source code through a Delaware-based company they control, but the Tezos Foundation controls all of the fundraiser’s proceeds.

The standoff has delayed the Tezos project’s launch. Contributors to the fundraiser, known as an “initial coin offering,” have not received new digital coins, called Tezzies. Their contributions were made in bitcoins and ether, two other cryptocurrencies whose values have surged.

Last week, Tezos supporters launched an online petition criticizing “the behavior and inaction of the current board” of the Tezos Foundation. They demanded that Gevers resign or be dismissed. More than 1,200 people have signed the petition to date.