Class action lawsuit targeting Tezos ends in $25M settlement after 3 years

The three-year-long class action lawsuit targeting Tezos (XTZ) has come to a conclusion after Judge Seeborg approved Tezos’ $25 million settlement on Friday.

According to the judgment, the funds will be distributed among “all persons and entities” who participated in Tezos’ 2017 initial coin offering from July 1 to 13 and sold their XTZ for a loss before Nov. 25, 2019, did not sell their tokens before Nov. 25, or are unable to access their XTZ due to lost passwords.

Eligible parties must file a claim to receive a share in the settlement before Oct. 16, 2020.

The plaintiffs’ counsel was also awarded attorneys’ fees equal to a third of the settlement funds, plus roughly $203,000 worth of litigation expenses that the defendants must pay separately.

The settlement also excludes the case’s defendants, Tezos’ founding family and individuals who held a position with the Tezos Foundation or a firm that had a “controlling interest” in the offering.

The settlement also saw the plaintiffs relinquish their right to make future claims against Tezos and the other defendants.

Judge Seeborg described the agreement as “fair, reasonable, and adequate,” noting that the case comprised “cutting edge litigation” that addressed novel issues for perhaps the first time.

The case began in December 2017, when a group of private plaintiffs sued Tezos founders Kathleen and Arthur Breitman along with the Tezos Foundation, alleging that the project’s ICO comprised an unlicensed securities offering.