The Cardano Foundation, one of the three firms that oversee Cardano blockchain, announced on March 16 that a think-tank based in London, Z/Yen, has filed a lawsuit against it.
What Exactly Is Z/Yen Suing Cardano Foundation For?
In a brief blog post on Monday (March 16), Cardano Foundation made public that it has been sued by Z/Yen Group Limited over an alleged agreement made in 2017. The Switzerland-based Foundation noted that revealing this lawsuit falls in line with their utmost principles of transparency. However, it did not disclose a lot of information regarding the lawsuit.
According to Cardano Foundation, this lawsuit entails an agreement made by the Foundation and Z/Yen back in 2017. Apparently, the Foundation voided or terminated the agreement for certain reasons that were not revealed on the blog post.
The Cardano Foundation, known for issuing ADA cryptocurrency, refuted the claims made against it by Z/Yen. However, it will not be providing any further information regarding the case while the proceedings are underway.
Cardano Foundation And Z/Yen Go Way Back
Notably, the Cardano Foundation and the think-tank firm have a relationship that goes way back. Sometime in December 2017, Cardano Foundation teamed up with Z/Yen’s Distributed Futures practice to work on blockchain-centric research papers. The pair would also work on possible applications of ADA digital currency and the Cardano blockchain.
During the time when the partnership was formalized, the co-founder of Z/Yen Group Professor Michael Mainelli, who also became the Director of Research at Cardano Foundation opined that the two firms would work on improving the understanding of new tools like smart ledgers by key players in the industry -such as policymakers and investors- thereby pushing the industry forward.
In mid-February 2018, the two organizations examined how quantum computing could jeopardize the security of “public key cryptography”, after which they published a detailed report.
Cardano Creator Charles Hoskinson Responds To Lawsuit
While many concluded that the lawsuit revolves around intellectual property rights between the former partners, Cardano creator and IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson has come out to rebut these claims.
Hoskinson emphasized that this lawsuit is not centered around any intellectual property as its just a “commercial dispute”. He also noted that the lawsuit does not involve Cardano’s research and development arm, Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK).
Further, Hoskinson explained that “this is old business” emanating from the relationship between former Cardano Foundation Chairman Michael Parsons and another executive at Z/Yen Group Limited. After Parsons was forced to resign from his position at Cardano Foundation in late 2018, they had to re-evaluate all commercial relationships due to the manner in which Parsons was dismissed. As such, the legal action taken by Z/Yen appears to be a “leftover” from that incident.
The Cardano founder then clarified that “there is nothing in what Z/Yen has done that has ended up in the protocol design, the code or anything implemented in Cardano.”
Hoskinson hopes that the lawsuit is resolved quickly. Meanwhile, it is not expected to cause any delays or disruptions in the Cardano space.
