Tezos is in Danger of Missing the Next Bull Run

There is a real danger that Tezos will miss the next bull run.

I’ll say that again. There is a real danger that Tezos will miss the next bull run.

Not because the tech isn’t in place. Tezos is developing just fine on that front. No, the reason Tezos will miss the next bull run (which could start anytime given recent movements in the wider market) is because of the Tezos Foundation.

Tezos is highly decentralized from a tech standpoint, but from a common sense perspective it’s still highly centralized. The reason being that whoever controls the purse strings controls the blockchain.

Those purse strings are currently controlled by the Tezos Foundation, which is missing in action. Tezos is teetering dangerously at the edge of another Gevers situation where the inactivity from the de facto centralized leadership is causing grave damage to the success of the technology.

The Tezos Foundation is sitting on a massive fund (half a million bucks?) which is to be used for the development of the Tezos blockchain, but so far hasn’t done much of anything. A few grants to a few companies and groups, but other than that, it’s been radio silence and a stubborn refusal to broaden the appeal of Tezos.

It’s no secret that in blockchain, the winners are those who shout the loudest. Not only in the short term but also in the long run. Without the basics like exchange listings, regular publicity, and strong leadership, even the best technology will fail. Not might fail, but will fail.

Let me cut to the chase. Instead of the next on-chain vote being about some minor tweak or upgrade to the protocol, the next vote needs to be about electing a new Tezos Foundation board.

I propose that the seven members of the Tezos Foundation Council must be elected for one-year terms. Ryan, you’ve done a great job in grabbing control away from Gevers and launching the mainnet, but since then you’ve really not been much of a leader and I’m not sure you’re the right man for the job. Olaf Carlson-Wee is silent, although probably a powerful force behind the scenes. And the other five (Michel Mauny, Marylene Micheloud, Pascal Clere, Lars Haussmann, and Hubertus Thonhauser), well, god knows what they’ve been up to or what role they play. They’re each distinguished professionals in their own right, but are they the right people for what are essentially the top jobs at Tezos?

I’m not in any way saying that the entire council should be dumped and replaced. I’m suggesting that the council should justify why they’re the best people for those positions, and others with brighter and more dynamic approaches should also be considered for running the Tezos Foundation.

If we want Tezos to be decentralized in spirit as well as tech, then those who control the finances and make the decisions on where the money is spent need to be elected by the community. If the community decides that they’d rather have a mix of tech experts and maybe a dynamic leader and a publicity expert too, then so be it. The Tezos Foundation could then meet the needs of the community (exchange listings, proper marketing, and focusing more on getting people excited about Tezos in addition to pushing tech development).

Because you know what? When the next bull run happens, Tezos is in a very poor position. In the marketplace, it’s hopelessly undervalued. Nobody knows about Tezos, or if they do, they think that Tezos is crippled by lawsuits or hasn’t released a mainnet. Until people stop valuing vaporware and shitcoins and more highly than solid projects like Tezos, and until we’ve gained access to exchanges and people are talking about Tezos in the main crypto communities in a positive way as much as they are about the top ten projects, something’s clearly very wrong.

The best tech doesn’t win. The best-promoted tech wins. Crypto isn’t like anything the world has seen before, and it plays by a whole different set of rules. We need leadership who understand that and don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole.

In these elections, each person interested in being elected (or re-elected) would write a manifesto outlining their plans for the blockchain and where they’d start to spend the money. They’d outline their goals for better financial transparency, their plans for bringing in new business, and their plans for promoting Tezos as the logical choice to be at the forefront of the next crypto wave. Maybe then we’ll manage to elect a board where the majority understand that it’s a good idea to pursue listings on major exchanges as soon as possible and to fund new projects, because without listings and projects, the bull run will pass us by.

We need leaders who don’t just understand the technology, but who understand the economics of crypto and how the game is played. If the community wants Tezos to continue in its current low key manner, then the current council members would be re-elected and everything would continue as it is now. But if the community wants to push the leadership in a more community-focused and market-focused direction, then surely we should be able to do that too? I know crypto is a marathon and not a sprint, but at the moment, we haven’t even put our running shoes on compared to other projects.

After all, the people controlling the money control the blockchain, end of story. Forget the number of bakers. Start looking at the leadership and start questioning if we’re really decentralized, because at the moment, we’re not. Leadership should be subject to community election by those who hold Tezos tokens, and when that happens, people will finally be attracted to Tezos.