FAQs: What happened to the “$50M Venture Capital for Developers and Startups” that was announced in August of 2017?

The previous council of the TF announced in August of 2017 that it would allocate $50M of venture capital for Tezos developers and startups. In the first part of 2018, the new council evaluated the situation and established its priorities. As you can imagine, our top priority and focus was to deploy resources to support the launch of the Tezos betanet.

In addition to the launch of the first production network, another priority was to deploy resources throughout the community to further the Tezos ecosystem. An initial strategy statement was released in June of 2018 which highlights that grants would be an important part of the Foundation’s role in the ecosystem. Significant funds have been deployed since then to support developers and others throughout the community. Last month the Foundation’s first Biannual Update was published which highlights that USD 37.4M has been committed to the following areas: Research, Education, & Core Development; Community Initiatives; Ecosystem – Tools & Applications. For more details on the Foundation’s grantmaking efforts, please see the biannual update. All this is laying the groundwork for further development and startup growth on Tezos.

As we see the emergence of a first major use case, asset tokenization and, in particular, Security Token Offerings (STOs) on Tezos, we are exploring additional funding mechanisms to support the growth of the Tezos project in this area as well as other key areas of focus as they develop. Indeed, the biannual update not only mentions grants but also “other capital deployment vehicles” as a means of funding. We are open to deploying funds in a variety of ways for a variety of use cases and will continue to explore the most effective way to further the Tezos project and ecosystem.

How does the Tezos Foundation vote on proposed amendments to Tezos?

The Foundation does not upvote any proposals during the Proposal Period. Additionally, the Foundation votes “Pass” (meaning explicitly abstaining) rather than “Yea” or “Nay” during the Exploration Vote Period and Promotion Vote Period to remain neutral during the amendment process. This contributes to the required quorum and further elevates the voices of other members of the Tezos community. Learn more about the Tezos amendment process here.