Credibility of ICOs faces its first big test

Tezos received plenty of hype ahead of its initial coin offering during the summer, says Ben Judge. But for those who bought in, the cryptocurrency has yet to materialise.

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Tezos is facing a San Francisco-based legal challenge

In the first half of this year, Tezos was trumpeted as the next big thing in cryptocurrencies. It was to be a "decentralised blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital Commonwealth"; a smart-contract platform to rival Ethereum. What would make it different would be the founding principle that decisions about the development of the platform would be taken by stakeholders those who held "tezzies", the platform's crypto-tokens (digital currency) rather than by miners, developers or any other centralised authority.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.