Blockchain startup Tezos, which raised $233 million in an initial coin offering in July, is imploding as the founders of the code have declared war on the head of the foundation set up to raise funding to support its development.

The row involves Arthur and Kathleen Breitman of Dynamic Ledger Solutions Inc., the company that developed the Tezos code, and Johann Gevers, the president of the Switzerland-based Tezos Foundation, the body set up to run the ICO along with promoting and developing the computer network.

According to Reuters, the Breitmans sent a letter to the board of the foundation demanding that Gevers be removed from his role because of alleged “self-dealing, self-promotion and conflicts of interest” and that they instead should be given a position on the foundation board.

In a post on Medium, Arthur Breitman expanded on their allegations, saying that the development of Tezos had slowed considerably because of Gevers’ inaction as foundation head. More salaciously, he said Gevers had “engaged in an attempt at self-dealing, misrepresenting to the council the value of a bonus he attempted to grant himself.”

Although Breitman claimed that Gevers’ operations role has been suspending pending an investigation, Gevers himself said he’s going nowhere. He accused the pair of an “attempted character assassination” that includes a “long laundry list of misleading statements and outright lies.”

He went even further, saying this was part of “an illegal coup” on his position at the foundation and that the Breitmans have been trying to control the foundation as if it were their own private entity by bypassing the foundation’s legal structure and interfering with management and operations. That, Gevers claimed, has caused the delays in developing and launching the Tezos network.

It’s not remotely clear who’s right, but regardless it’s an extremely poor look given that it demonstrates gross mismanagement of a startup with a lot of money in the bank. Although it initially raisedg $232 million in its ICO, it now sits on a treasure chest of over $400 million because the prices of both Ethereum and the bitcoin raised in the ICO have risen in value since July.

Not surprisingly, the market can also see what complete disaster the infighting is for Tezos as well. Futures on Tezos tokens dove a stunning 75 percent in trading Thursday, despite the fact that the tokens themselves haven’t even been issued yet.

Image: Tezos