April 23 (Cointime) - Phezzan Protocol, a DeFi protocol in the zkSync ecosystem, has announced that a new team has taken over the project from the founders, Roland and Jack, who departed voluntarily for family reasons.

"The new team is seeking to keep building Phezzan tirelessly, so that this protocol that we all cherish can reclaim a fair chance to realize its full potential as an OG zkSync project." the project said.

According to the project, Phezzan's survival is at risk due to lack of operating cash flow and the builders not being paid for three months. The team further explained:

"Jack and Roland have been personally bearing the monthly burn of $50k+ for the past 16 months, while hoping to bring retail liquidity in an orderbook DEX to Ethereum’s most promising L2. However, as the post-Terra/FTX crypto winter of 2022 weighed heavily on the industry, Phezzan was not spared. The self-funded team had little dry powder left and the builders have not been paid for three months. Phezzan’s survival is at risk. Despite all past efforts and ideals, Roland and Jack have depleted the savings reserved for the project and had to leave Phezzan to us, a team they had been highly close to since Day 1 at Phezzan."

"Earlier in 2023, Roland and Jack successfully received funding from well-known VCs including Delphi and Cogitent, totaling over $1 million. However, they ultimately felt that this approach was contrary to their community-driven ideals. They refunded 100% raised." the team added.

To address this issue, the new team has decided to launch an IDO soon to help Phezzan raise the funds necessary to complete its mission. The team also plans to actively communicate and collaborate with the zkSync team and peer projects in the ecosystem. 

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3/13 Why we’d keep building Phezzan? Well, let’s review the many starry accomplishments by this amazing team: Phezzan is the first perp DEX on zkSync as recognized by zkSync (https://twitter.com/zksync/status/1561719975525486592?s=46&t=nP7zwQotwalZSX1nxtMVvQ…), and contributed significantly to zkSync testnet successes.

4/13 · Rinkeby testnet (two months): 757k transactions, 53k unique addresses, gas on Rinkeby increased by 100% due to Phezzan.

· zkSync testnet (one month): 416k transactions, 25k unique addresses, 11% of all transactions on the entire zkSync testnet in August 2022.

5/13 But building a project also comes with numerous challenges. Jack and Roland have been personally bearing the monthly burn of $50k+ for the past 16 months, while hoping to bring retail liquidity in an orderbook DEX to Ethereum’s most promising L2.

6/13 However, as the post-Terra/FTX crypto winter of 2022 weighed heavily on the industry, Phezzan was not spared. The self-funded team had little dry powder left and the builders have not been paid for three months. Phezzan’s survival is at risk.

7/13 Despite all past efforts and ideals, Roland and Jack have depleted the savings reserved for the project and had to leave Phezzan to us, a team they had been highly close to since Day 1 at Phezzan.

8/13 In fact, earlier in 2023, Roland and Jack successfully received funding from well-known VCs including Delphi and Cogitent, totaling over $1 million. However, they ultimately felt that this approach was contrary to their community-driven ideals. They refunded 100% raised.

9/13 We deeply admire Roland and Jack’s achievement, courage, and staunch adherence to crypto’s most native spirit – community first. That is why we initiated multiple discussions with Roland and Jack, ultimately convincing them to entrust Phezzan to us.

10/13 Clearly, lack of operating cashflow has drastically limited Phezzan’s ability to maintain daily operations and bring many of its exciting products from pipeline to the market.

11/13 After careful consideration and consulting with some member of our community, we decided to launch an IDO soon to help Phezzan raise the funds necessary to complete its mission as a leading perp DEX protocol on the zkSync Era mainnet, where 890k+ community members await.

12/13 We will actively communicate and collaborate with the zkSync team and peer projects in the zkSync ecosystem. Meanwhile, the Phezzan will not stop building – we will always hold on to the enthusiasm for our product and our community that got us started at the first place.

13/13 We believe our past contributions to zkSync, along with what we are to achieve with the funds raised through this IDO, will eventually prove us indispensable to the zkSync Era ecosystem, and bring significant value to all Phezzaners.

Builders of the world, let’s unite!