Role of the Tezos Foundation

We sustainably deploy resources that support the long-term success of Tezos.

The Tezos Foundation is a Swiss foundation, supervised by the Swiss Federal Foundation Supervisory Authority. Our purpose is the promotion of the Tezos protocol through grants and other capital deployment vehicles.

We view Tezos as a long-term project – where a solid technical foundation is key to winning the marathon race to global adoption. It is crucial to understand that the Tezos Foundation is not Tezos. We do not manage or operate Tezos and we are only one entity in a global ecosystem. Our role is to sustainably deploy the resources that are under control to support the long-term success of Tezos. This long-term success will only be possible with a vibrant decentralized ecosystem. Our goal is to ensure that the independent organizations in this ecosystem have what they need to solve the challenges that lay ahead. Our role is not to solve these challenges unilaterally and on our own.

Facts & Figures

Some Tezos Foundation highlights that were reported in our September 2023 Biannual Update.

Foundation Council

The Foundation Council has overall responsibility for managing and administering the Foundation and its assets, and for defining the Foundation’s strategy. In line with its Charter, the Foundation Council has delegated the operational and asset management duties to the Executive Committee of the Foundation. The Foundation Council appoints and constitutes itself. It is currently composed of eight members, including the Chair of the Foundation Council.

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee is entrusted by the Foundation Council with the operational and asset management duties of the Foundation. In addition, the Executive Committee implements the Foundation Council’s resolutions and is, among others, to some extent responsible for investment decisions fostering the Foundation’s purpose.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee monitors the Foundation’s financial and business reporting, including financial statements and tax matters. The audit process includes reviewing the activities, adequacy, and effectiveness of the Foundation’s statutory auditor (PwC Switzerland).

Investment Committee

The Investment Committee (IC) provides recommendations and advice to the Foundation Council and the Executive Committee about all investments of the Foundation outside of regular grants and ordinary asset management.

Technical Advisory Committee

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was established to provide recommendations and advice to the Foundation Council and the Executive Committee on all technical matters of the Tezos protocol. The TAC includes external members from throughout the Tezos community.

Nomination and Remuneration Committee

The Foundation Council appointed a Nomination Committee to evaluate and propose new members to the Foundation Council. The Committee is further responsible for the regular assessment of the Foundation’s remuneration model. Please see the News section of our website for more information regarding the future governance structure.

Foundation Council

The Tezos Foundation Council is composed of accomplished professionals who lead the Tezos Foundation as it supports the Tezos protocol and ecosystem. Individually, they bring expertise and insights from their respective fields. Collectively, they form a council full of unique backgrounds and experiences from all over the world.

Alexis Bonte
President of the Foundation Council and Chair of the Nomination Committee

Alexis is President of the Tezos Foundation and co-founder and CEO of the online gaming company eRepublik Labs, which is part of the Stillfront Group, where Alexis holds the position of the Group COO. He is also a former venture partner of Atomico and an angel investor and board member in several internet and game companies. Originally from France and Portugal, Alexis holds a BA in International Business & Languages from the European Business School, London.

Roman Schnider
Member of the Foundation Council and Chair of the Investment Committee

Roman is the former President of the Tezos Foundation having initially joined as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Operations in 2019, and then becoming member of the Foundation's Executive Committee since its creation in 2019. Following a fifteen years career at PwC Switzerland, Germany and Australia Roman developed from a Financial Services specialist to a Director in Financial Services with a focus on blockchain technology.

Lars Haussmann
Member of the Foundation Council and Chair of the Audit Committee

Lars is the Head of Corporate Management and Company Administration at Haussmann Treuhand AG. He has served at Haussmann Treuhand AG since 1999, and has extensive experience in corporate management, administration, and accounting matters in demanding and complex situations. Lars is originally from Switzerland, and holds a degree in Economics from the University of Zurich. He is a Swiss certified chartered accountant.

Arthur Breitman
Member of the Foundation Council

Arthur Breitman is an early architect of Tezos. Previously, Arthur was a research engineer for Google X and Waymo. In his early career, he worked as a quantitative analyst for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Arthur graduated from the École Polytechnique and the Courant Institute of NYU where he studied applied mathematics.

Alice Lloyd George
Member of the Foundation Council

Alice is the founding partner of early stage venture fund Rogue Capital. Since 2013, Alice has been investing in emerging technology and Internet culture in areas including gaming, blockchain, machine intelligence and computer vision, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and NewSpace. Previously, Alice was a board member and observer for 12 portfolio companies at RRE Ventures, an investor at Bridgewater Associates, a fellow at the Brookings Institute in Beijing and Washington DC, and a reporter with The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

Anil Madhavapeddy
Member of the Foundation Council

Anil is a University Lecturer (Associate Prof) in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge, where he researches the intersection of computer systems and programming languages. Anil has worked extensively on open source software for over 25 years, and his research has been spun out into numerous commercial entities. He was part of the team that created the Xen hypervisor (acquired by Citrix in 2007) and he founded Unikernel Systems (acquired by Docker in 2016). He has additionally directed the OCaml Labs group since 2012.

Daniel Masters
Member of the Foundation Council

Daniel is co-founder and chairman of the CoinShares Group, a leading digital asset investment firm that manages hundreds of millions in assets on behalf of a global investor base. Prior to CoinShares, Daniel launched the world’s first regulated Bitcoin fund and founded Global Advisors, an oil- and commodities-focused investment house. With over 30 years of experience in pioneering new asset classes, Daniel is a well-known and respected voice in the digital asset ecosystem. Earlier in his career, Daniel was the Global Head of Energy and Trading at JP Morgan. Originally from the UK, Daniel holds degrees in Physics and Statistics, and is proud to have traded more oil contracts than any other living person.

Chris Wright
Member of the Foundation Council

Chris is Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Red Hat, an open source software company which was acquired by IBM in 2019. As CTO, Chris has helped Red Hat transition from a single product business to the foundation from which global enterprise clients can scale apps and roll out emerging technologies across all types of cloud environments. Chris is passionate about open source software, and he has spent 25 years in the industry, 20 years in open source.

Other Committees

Executive Committee

Jean-Frédéric Mognetti
Executive Director

Investment Committee

Roman Schnider
Chair, Member of the Foundation Council
Alexis Bonte
President of the Foundation Council
Alice Lloyd George
Member of the Foundation Council
Luciano Schmid
General Counsel, Tezos Foundation

Audit Committee

Lars Haussmann
Chair, Member of the Foundation Council
Daniel Masters
Member of the Foundation Council
Roman Schnider
Member of the Foundation Council
Luciano Schmid
General Counsel, Tezos Foundation

Technical Advisory Committee

Rafael Ziolkowski
Chair, Tezos Foundation
Anil Madhavapeddy
Member of the Foundation Council
Chris Pinnock
Tezos Foundation
Jeremy Foo
TriliTech
Corey Soreff
Tezos Commons
David Tng
TZ APAC
Sergei Simonian
PK Lab

Nomination Committee

Alexis Bonte
Chair, President of the Foundation Council
Lars Haussmann
Member of the Foundation Council
Roman Schnider
Member of the Foundation Council

Are you interested to understand our Grant Process?

Grant Process

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