Tezos

Tezos is a proof-of-stake smart-contract blockchain that upgrades itself through on-chain votes; tez (XTZ) is its native coin.

Tezos is a layer-1 blockchain for smart contracts, launched on 30 June 2018. Its main idea is self-amendment: changes to the protocol are proposed, voted on by bakers and switched on without splitting the chain. It was founded by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, and the Swiss Tezos Foundation raised about $232 million in a 2017 token sale.

Tezos uses proof of stake. Validators, called bakers, need at least 6,000 tez of baking power. Holders can delegate their tez to a baker with no risk and keep it spendable, or stake it, which locks it as part of the baker's deposit so it can be slashed if the baker misbehaves. Rewards are variable and depend on the baker's performance.

There is no maximum supply. On 1 October 2026 about 1.118 billion XTZ existed, of which about 342 million were frozen as stake. Several independent teams, such as Nomadic Labs and Trilitech, develop the protocol, and an EVM layer 2 called Etherlink runs on top of Tezos.

In September 2026 Tezos developers launched Quantumnet, an experimental testnet for post-quantum cryptography. In 2020 the Tezos Foundation paid $25 million to settle a US class action over its 2017 token sale, without admitting wrongdoing.