Review on Tezos by Saparov Meylis

Tezos is a new decentralized blockchain that facilitates formal verification, a method that mathematically proves the correctness of the code that governs transactions.

The Tezos blockchain will support robust, decentralized applications and smart contracts while avoiding some of the political and technological challenges previously faced by efforts like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Tezos has 3 key layers - the network layer, the transaction layer and the consensus layer. Components are modular, making it easy to upgrade by seamlessly replacing modules.

It operates a “collaboration” model where it allows XTZ holders to vote on the direction of the blockchain, so in theory there is no need to hard fork the blockchain.

Tezos is in many ways a competitor to Ethereum. He plans to offer smart contracts and support decentralized applications. The system will operate on a proof-of-price model, in which the Tezos Foundation claims on its official website that “stakeholders regulate the protocol”.

The world first learned about the existence of a project called Tezos in 2014. The authors are Kathleen and Arthur Breitman, they own the DLS company, which deals directly with programming issues. The Swiss investment fund Tezos Foundation, headed by Johann Gevers, is also related to the project; the investment fund deals with financial issues.

Since July 1, 2017, the Tezos team has raised a historic $ 232 million (65703 BTC and 361122 ETH) in about 2 weeks, accepting contributions from both Bitcoin and Ether. In addition, the company was sponsored by many investors, mainly from hedge funds.

Shortly after the end of the ICO, problems quickly began to appear one after another. Some of the major events include lawsuits, leaders leaving or being replaced, fines, securities fraud allegations, and a delayed major network launch that has enraged many.

Tezos co-founder Kathleen Brightman said Tezos has developed its own Michelson smart contract language, which is designed to facilitate formal verification. Formal validation is a process that mathematically ensures that certain aspects of a computer code are correct. It is used in particular in the aerospace industry, where the cost of error is particularly high.

If the Tezos developers want to make changes to the code, they will have to pay. Hard forks are generally undesirable as they lead to conflict within the network community and increase the volatility of cryptocurrencies. As a reminder, Ethereum has been hardforking twice. The first, the most serious, after about $ 60 million was stolen from DAO Ethereum.As a result, two Ethereum blockchains and two coins appeared - Ethereum and Ethereum Classic (a community that did not agree with the cancellation of the DAO Ethereum ICO, which was announced by the with Vitalik Buterin).

On the eve of the Bitcoin hardfork and blockchain due to problems with low transaction speed. Within this community, a conflict has also matured, which threatens to split the single Bitcoin network, the emergence of several bitcoins and a fall in the capitalization of the main cryptocurrency. Hard forks lead to sharp leaps in cryptocurrencies, which is bad for settlements.

This is why the creators of the Tezos code would like to avoid hard forks. This is stated in the Position Paper.