Market Discovery of the most influential projects in the cryptocurrency world.
What is Tezos (XTZ) and how does it work?
Tezos is an open-source blockchain platform that aims to address key issues that blockchain adoption for assets and applications faces, whilst being backed by a global community of validators, researchers, and builders. Similarly to Ethereum, the XTZ network can execute peer-to-peer transactions and serve as a platform for deploying smart contracts. The native cryptocurrency for the Tezos blockchain, Tezos coin, is the Tez which has the symbol XTZ. However, Tezos aims to differ from Ethereum by offering infrastructure that is more advanced, meaning it can upgrade and change over time without being in danger of a hard fork with the aim of long-term upgradability, open participation, collaboration, and smart contract safety. Holders of the native token, XTZ, can vote on proposals for protocol upgrades that have been put forward by Tezos developers.
According to its developers, the open-source platform labels itself as “secure, upgradable and built to last”, stating that its smart contract language provides the accuracy that is required for high-value use cases. This approach signals that the blockchain can be future-proof and ready for future developments. The technology for Tezos crypto was originally developed in 2014 but only ended up launching 5 years later in 2019.
What makes Tezos unique is its twist on staking, a common process across many blockchains where users get rewarded for holding specific currencies in their wallets and acting as network validators. Investors can get involved with the network’s governance through “baking,” where they stake 8,000 XTZ. Bakers are then allowed to vote on proposed changes to the blockchain’s code in a four-step procedure that takes approximately 23 days, and if approved by most participants, is then tested for 48h on the test net before being integrated into the main blockchain.
Tezos also gained popularity for its connections with high-profile businesses, wherein 2020, French banking giant Societe Generale planned to use this blockchain for experimenting with a central bank digital currency. Additionally, on exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase users are able to stake their coins, a feature that most blockchains don’t…
