Tezos (XTZ) is a very interesting cryptocurrency that is currently in 19th position for market capitalisation, according to CoinMarketCap. This article will show what Tezos is, how it works and where to buy it across the various markets.
What is Tezos (XTZ)
On the official website there is a brief explanation of how Tezos (XTZ) works:
“Tezos is a decentralized blockchain that governs itself by establishing a true digital commonwealth and facilitates formal verification, a technique which mathematically proves the correctness of the code governing transactions and boosts the security of the most sensitive or financial weighted smart contracts”.
This is a full-fledged platform for the development of smart contracts, similar to Ethereum. A distributed network connected to a token called Tez (XTZ). No Proof of Work or mining, token owners are able to receive the rewards simply by taking part in the Delegated Proof of Stake mechanism that governs the network.
So what is Tezos (XTZ) and how does it work?
The consensus mechanism that is reached within the network is called Liquid Proof of Stake and is a sort of Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS). The substantial difference between the simple Proof of Stake (PoS) and the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) lies in the fact that in the first case the confirmation of a transaction must involve the whole network, while in the second case there are delegates, elected figures within the network who will be responsible for confirming transactions.
Clearly, people who own more tokens will also be able to have a higher decision-making influence during the voting process, as explained in our in-depth analysis.
The Tezos (XTZ) blockchain protocol is divided into three different levels:
- Network protocol: which is responsible for the transmission of information by nodes;
- Transaction protocol: the layer that determines the transaction system of Tezos;
- Consensus protocol: what was explained earlier, the network consensus mechanism.
There are two types of accounts within the network:
- Implicit Accounts: these are the most common. They have one account owner and one balance and cannot have delegates under any circumstances;
- Originated Accounts: these are the most complex ones that allow different operations, from the creation of smart contracts to the possibility of having delegates for the DPoS.
Problems with the XTZ ICO and team
The development of this project began as far back as 2014 and the ICO began on July 1st, 2017, collecting a record figure of 232 million dollars in just two weeks, undoubtedly one of the largest investments in the history of cryptocurrencies.
After this development, problems arose when Tezos’ intellectual property owner, Arthur Breitman and Kathleen Breitman, had a discussion with the founder and president Johann Gevers.
Problems that significantly delayed the launch of the platform, given that in March 2018 there were still no tangible results. Subsequently, there were other legal disputes, which were also initiated by investors against the company asking for refunds for the figures invested in the ICO.
In February 2018, these investors obtained what they wanted: the immediate resignation of two members of the board of directors, which were shortly replaced.
Tezos (XTZ): where to buy it
Here is the list of the main platforms where Tezos (XTZ) can be purchased:
- BitMax;
- CoinEx;
- HitBTC;
- Coinbase Pro;
- Kraken;
- Huobi;
- Bitfinex;
- Gate.io;
- KuCoin;
- Coinone.
Many other platforms are available at this link. As it is a very famous cryptocurrency, Tezos is present on many exchanges and the place to buy it remains a personal choice based on the preferences for the different platforms.
Tezos (XTZ) reached its ATH (All-Time High) on December 17th, 2017 when it reached a value of $12.19, whereas now the price of the token is around $1.02. All things considered, the result is not very bad, considering that in December 2018 it was worth $0.38 and also that there are many other cryptocurrencies that have lost much more value than XTZ.
