Through an official statement on its website, the Tezos foundation has confirmed the release of its BetaNet, ahead of a mainnet release sometime in the future.
The Tezos Betanet went live after its developers rolled out a proposed genesis block for the network, and confirmed that transactions can now take place.
However, users will have to wait for an estimated seven weeks or the addition of 28,672 blocks before they can start ‘baking’ KS validating their blocks.
For the time being, no incentive or block reward is promised for developers as “baking rights are unassigned” according to the statement.
Developers were also reminded to consider all precautions before interacting with Betanet as the founders will not be able to “help if tokens are lost or stolen’’ on the network.
Some controversies have marred the Tezos project since hitting an incredible $232 million in its ICO which took place in July 2017.
Like Ripple XRP, Tekkies (tokens from the project) has been termed “security” by many investors who have demanded that the token gets registered with the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) before it can be sold to the US populace.
A delayed release of its tokens at the end of a profitable ICO did little to convince members of the public on the authenticity of the project, just as much as the ensuing dispute between its co-founders Arthur and Kathleen Breitman with Ryan Jesperson who heads the Tezos foundation.
For failing to disclose Tezos-related “outside business activities” while working for Morgan Stanley to Wall Street’s regulatory body FINRA, Arthur Breitman (Tezos co-founder) was fined $20,000 by the regulators and will not be allowed to work as a broker in the security exchange market within the next two years.
A spate of the crisis has plunged the Tezos project into a low point, but the story could still change.
A New Tezos Story?
With the BetaNet launch, it is becoming clear that the owners are trying to put the controversies behind and perhaps write a new Tezos story.
As noted by the official statement, the BetaNet launch is an ‘inflation point’ for the project, and anyone who is involved with it has a part to play in this new episode.