In a move that should have surprised no-one but actually did, investors in the Tezos blockchain project are being hit with a Know Your Client (KYC)/Anti-Money Laundering (AML) audit, which has managed to have enraged almost all the participants.
On June 10, the Tezos Foundation which had carried out the July 2017 Tezos Initial Coin Offering (ICO) which brought in an at the time a record USD 232 billion from investors, announced it was conducting the KYC/AML check of those investors who participated in the ICO. The Foundation noted in its announcement, “performing KYC/AML checks – as has become the norm for blockchain projects – is the best way forward.”
The reaction from investors who had signed up to purchase the Tezos tokens – “tezzies” – was, to say the least unimpressed. The selling point of the Tezos initiative was that it was “different,” offering a new system that would fix what was seen as a broken governance model. Many investors have expressed intense frustration that the KYC/AML process that was not part of the original ICO seemed to have been sprung on them.
For more information, please call Barbara Hendrickson at BAX Securities Law (416) 601 -1004.
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