What is COTI (COTI)?

Quick Facts

  • Full name: Currency Of The Internet
  • Founded: 2017 by Shahaf Bar-Geffen
  • Originally: A DAG-based payment network
  • Current architecture: Layer-2 rollup on Ethereum (COTI V2)
  • Core technology: Garbled Circuits for programmable privacy
  • Mainnet launch: COTI V2 went live in 2025
  • Token uses: Gas fees, staking, governance
  • Notable product: Djed, an overcollateralized stablecoin on Cardano

Introduction

COTI — short for Currency Of The Internet — is a blockchain project built to make digital payments fast, private, and scalable. What began as a DAG-based payment network has evolved into a fully programmable privacy layer for Ethereum, capable of supporting confidential transactions across DeFi, enterprise finance, and beyond.

The COTI token powers every layer of this ecosystem, from paying gas fees to participating in governance.

History & Background

COTI was founded in 2017 with the goal of creating a more efficient payment infrastructure for the internet economy. Its early protocol used a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure called Trustchain, which assigned trust scores to nodes and transactions to achieve high throughput and low fees.

In 2023, COTI announced a major strategic pivot with COTI V2, redesigning the network as an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup focused on programmable privacy. The upgraded mainnet launched in 2025, marking a new chapter for the project.

How COTI Works

COTI V2 is built around Garbled Circuits, a cryptographic technique that enables secure computation on encrypted data without revealing the underlying inputs. This allows smart contracts and transactions to remain private end-to-end.

The network also incorporates zero-knowledge proofs and confidential computation to support compliance-friendly applications — making it suitable for both Web3 protocols and regulated financial institutions. Bridges connect COTI to other ecosystems, including Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain.

Tokenomics

The COTI token is the native asset of the entire ecosystem. Its primary utilities include:

  • Paying gas fees on the COTI L2 network
  • Staking to secure the protocol and earn rewards
  • Governance participation in network upgrades and decisions
  • Collateral within the Treasury and DeFi applications

The token exists as an ERC-20 on Ethereum and a BEP-20 on BNB Smart Chain, with an official bridge enabling cross-chain movement.

Circulating supply ? 2.90 billion COTI
Total supply ? 2.34 billion COTI
Max supply ? 4.91 billion COTI
Updated 3d ago

Ecosystem & Use Cases

COTI V2 supports a growing range of privacy-preserving applications:

  • Private DeFi: Confidential swaps, lending, and liquidity protocols
  • Djed stablecoin: An overcollateralized algorithmic stablecoin deployed on Cardano, developed in partnership with Input Output Global (IOG)
  • Enterprise finance: Compliant, encrypted transaction infrastructure for traditional financial institutions
  • Encrypted identity and AI logic execution on-chain

Team, Governance & Community

COTI was founded by Shahaf Bar-Geffen and has maintained an active development team since 2017. Governance is handled through the COTI token, allowing holders to vote on protocol upgrades and ecosystem decisions.

The community is active across Twitter, Telegram, and Reddit, with ongoing developer engagement through official blog updates and roadmap publications.

Advantages

  • Programmable privacy using garbled circuits — rare in the Ethereum ecosystem
  • Enterprise-ready architecture supporting compliant financial applications
  • Multi-chain presence via Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Cardano integrations
  • Diverse token utility spanning fees, staking, and governance
  • Established track record since 2017 with a clear upgrade path

Risks & Challenges

  • Migration complexity: The transition from V1 to V2 introduces technical and adoption uncertainty
  • Competition: Faces rivals in both privacy (Monero, Zcash) and Ethereum L2 (Arbitrum, Optimism) spaces
  • Regulatory landscape: Privacy-focused infrastructure may face evolving legal scrutiny
  • Execution risk: Delivering enterprise-grade privacy at scale remains technically demanding

Long-Term Vision

COTI aims to become the leading programmable privacy layer for Ethereum, powering a new generation of confidential DeFi, encrypted identity, and compliant enterprise finance. By combining cryptographic innovation with real-world payment utility, COTI positions itself at the intersection of traditional finance and Web3 — targeting a future where privacy is a standard feature of every on-chain transaction.

Frequently Asked Questions

COTI stands for Currency Of The Internet. It was founded in 2017 with the goal of building a faster and more efficient payment infrastructure for the digital economy.

COTI V2 is a redesigned version of the COTI network, launched as an Ethereum Layer-2 rollup in 2025. It is built around garbled circuits technology to enable fully programmable, privacy-preserving computation on-chain.

Garbled circuits are a cryptographic technique that allows computations to be performed on encrypted data without revealing the underlying inputs. COTI uses them to power its private, confidential transaction and smart contract capabilities.

The COTI token is used to pay gas fees on the COTI L2 network, stake to secure the protocol and earn rewards, and participate in governance votes on network upgrades.

COTI exists as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum and a BEP-20 token on BNB Smart Chain. An official bridge enables token transfers between these networks and the native COTI L2.

Djed is an overcollateralized algorithmic stablecoin deployed on Cardano, developed in partnership with Input Output Global (IOG). COTI handles the backend logic, operations, and issuance of Djed.

Unlike traditional privacy coins such as Monero or Zcash, COTI is a programmable Layer-2 network on Ethereum. It targets enterprise payments and DeFi applications, not just anonymous peer-to-peer transfers.

The original COTI network used a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) protocol called Trustchain, which assigned trust scores to nodes and transactions to achieve high throughput and low transaction fees.