In a significant institutional move, staking and validator firm TenX Protocol has executed a strategic acquisition of 5,542,935 Tezos (XTZ) tokens, valued at approximately $3.25 million. The purchase was finalized through a combination of open-market and over-the-counter (OTC) trades between January 2 and January 19, 2025, at an average price of $0.5868 per token.
The acquisition is part of a formal partnership with the Tezos Foundation. TenX Protocol will stake the entire XTZ holding through its own validator infrastructure, aiming to generate recurring revenue from staking rewards while contributing to the security and consensus of the Tezos blockchain. The company funded the purchase with cash on hand from a capital raise completed in August 2025.
"As we scale our validator operations, Tezos stands out for its governance model, technical maturity, and reliability," said Mat Cybula, CEO of TenX. The firm selected Tezos to boost its validator operations, focusing on networks with long-term potential and stability. The Tezos Foundation will add a portion of additional XTZ reserves to the validators operated by TenX after the deal's completion, further aligning TenX with the ecosystem's health.
Tezos co-founder Arthur Breitman commented, "TenX sees what others have missed: Tezos combines battle-tested governance with the scaling and performance the industry has been chasing. Validators who think long-term are a natural fit." The network, which has seen no downtime in nearly a decade, continues to upgrade through on-chain governance rather than hard forks.
Analysts view the partnership as a multifaceted development. It strengthens network security by adding a major, professional validator, enhances decentralization, and validates the staking yield model for institutional players. The move signals growing institutional confidence in blockchain infrastructure investments, treating staking as a core business revenue stream. The OTC method of acquisition indicates a deliberate, price-conscious strategy to minimize market impact.
