Kathleen Breitman is an American entrepreneur and businesswoman who is best known as the co-founder of the Tezos blockchain project along with her husband, Arthur Breitman. ^[1]

Early Life

Kathleen Breitman was born in 1990 in Connecticut, United States. She grew up in Northern New Jersey, parented by Bronx-raised Contractor and an Irish elementary school teacher. ^[2]

Education

Breitman attended High School in New Jersey, at Immaculate Heart Academy then moved to New York City in 2008 and enrolled in New York University. She then transferred to Cornell University where she completed her studies, receiving a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in 2012. ^[2][3]

Career

During her time in university, Kathleen Breitman worked as a Vice President at R&M Political from June 2009 to May 2011. During her tenure, she edited The Politicizer, a subsidiary of R&M. ^[4]

In June 2011, she worked as a Robert L. Bartley Fellow at The Wall Street Journal for three months. Following this, she joined Bridgewater Associates, where she worked as a Management Associate in 2013 for less than a year. ^[4]

In July 2012, she joined De Dicto as a Consultant until June 2013. After that, she worked as a Strategy Consultant at Accenture from April 2014 to February 2016. Later, Kathleen worked as a Sr. Strategy Associate at R3 CEV from February 2016 to October 2016. During her career, Kathleen has written several articles about blockchain technology, including "Blockchains 101," which she published on Medium. ^[4]

Tezos

Kathleen and Arthur Breitman first conceived the idea for Tezos in 2014, while they were living in the San Francisco Bay Area. The couple saw a need for a more flexible and upgradable blockchain technology, and they began working on Tezos in their spare time. They ultimately decided to launch a blockchain that aimed to be more transparent, decentralized, and capable of self-evolution. ^[2]

In July 2017, they held a successful initial coin offering (ICO) for Tezos, raising over $230 million. The ICO was one of the largest crowdfunding events in history at the time, but it was also plagued by legal and financial controversies. ^[5]

Despite facing several controversies and legal challenges, Kathleen and Arthur continued to develop Tezos. Kathleen has been instrumental in developing the governance mechanisms of the Tezos network, which allow stakeholders to vote on changes to the protocol. ^[2][6]

In addition to her work on Tezos, Kathleen has been an advocate for women in the technology industry and has spoken at several conferences and events on the topic. She has also been involved in other blockchain-related ventures, including as an advisor to the blockchain-based prediction market platform Gnosis. ^[7][8]

"The culture of the space has created a filter such that women who tend to stick around are either hard-nosed or smart enough not to look at comments sections. Candidly, a great part about cryptocurrencies is that you don't have to work on them to enjoy their benefits. I would rather that more women own cryptocurrencies en masse than work in the industry."