Kathleen Breitman is a fintech veteran best known as the co-creator of the Tezos Foundation. She co-founded Tezos with her husband Arthur Breitman in 2016, two years after the release of its original white paper in 2014. Breitman is an NYU graduate in financial mathematics who currently serves as the CEO of Dynamic Ledger Solutions, a company that developed the first version of the Tezos platform.
Tezos was developed as an open-source proof-of-stake blockchain platform to enable smart contract deployment and peer-to-peer transactions, primarily powered by the in-house Tezos (XTZ) token. Prior to founding Tezos, Breitman’s presence in the blockchain ecosystem dates back to 2014 while working with Accenture, deploying the service on business applications. She has also worked for R3, a New York-based firm specializing in blockchain solutions for payments and settlements.
Tezos launched as a nonprofit organization that sought funding through initial coin offerings. Over the years, the company has secured multi-million-dollar deals across numerous fundings from veteran entrepreneurs such as Tim Draper, and is currently worth over $8 billion in valuation.
In 2021, the Tezos Foundation announced three major protocol upgrades — Edo, Florence and Granada — aimed at improving the core blockchain functionality along with introducing various new features.
Along with technological upgrades, Tezos was focused on spreading its presence via a number of partnerships and integrations with leading players including McLaren Racing, Gap, Baanx and Formula One’s Red Bull Racing. Under Breitman’s leadership, crypto lending and investing platforms such as Celsius and Grayscale Investments expedited the market growth of the Tezos Foundation.
Breitman’s company also partnered with gaming giant Ubisoft to launch an NFT-based game with a heavy focus on environmental sustainability. The Tezos network hit a new milestone of 10 million total contract calls — more than 5 million of which were recorded in 2021 alone — primarily driven by the surging demand for nonfungible tokens.
Tezos also supported community growth by partnering with Entrepreneur First to fund Web3 startups and help them launch unique solutions tailored to the crypto industry. By the end of the year, the Tezos blockchain recorded a 70% increase in energy efficiency in addition to lowering the average electricity requirement per transaction by 30% compared to 2020.
Building upon 2021, the Tezos blockchain started off the year by onboarding clothing brand Gap for launching rare NFTs, purchasable with XTZ tokens. Breitman’s vision for global expansion further materialized as Tezos India partnered with The Blockchain School to launch educational courses related to understanding the fundamentals of the Tezos protocol.
The company also commenced its partnership spree early on, starting with a three-year deal with French esports organization Team Vitality to improve fan interaction via exposure to Tezos. Moreover, Tezos’ partnership with Baanx — which received the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority approval — may soon result in a crypto-centric offering similar to Visa’s.
It is expected that Tezos will continue to grow as a platform under Breitman’s leadership and challenge Ethereum over which network will dominate the NFT ecosystem. Moreover, Breitman is sure that Tezos’ low carbon footprint will reach acceptance in mainstream finance.
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New York, U.S.
San Francisco, U.S.
Tech
New York University, Cornell University
Founding the Tezos blockchain network
