What is Tezos?

Tezos is an open-source blockchain platform for assets and applications, emphasizing code security, on-chain governance, and decentralization. The protocol was originally conceived in a 2014 white paper by Arthur and Kathleen Breitman under the pseudonym L.M. Goodman and was launched as the Tezos Mainnet in 2018. It was initially built with formal verification in mind for smart contract development.

Tezos uses Liquid Proof-of-Stake (LPoS), allowing stakeholders to participate directly or via delegation in consensus and to receive rewards for securing the network. The protocol includes an on-chain governance system in which stakeholders can create and vote on upgrade proposals, enabling self-amendment without splitting the chain. The description also states that Tezos 2.0 aims to improve scalability through layer 2s, enhance composability, and add support for mainstream programming languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and Python.