The incentive program is in part the consumer/merchant wallet and other incentives for merchants to onboard in early stage to be part of the beta test. We decided to allocate tokens to encourage adoption of COTI’s solution by merchants, mediators and consumers.


Fresh update! 21th of June Thursday


And the 100,000 COTI coins go to...





Vivian from Hong Kong!

Read the full story here: <<< https://mailchi.mp/coti.io/and-the-100000-coti-coins-go-to?e=f680449d59 >>>

Please contact support@coti.io with your issue and you shall have a timely response to your query.

Fresh update! 19th of June Tuesday


one more post We couldn’t be more excited, the Blockchain Expo will be taking place next week, 27 June 2018 in Amsterdam, and COTI has been shortlisted for the Best Cryptocurrency 2018 Award! The Blockchain Expo is one of the biggest in the industry and covers the most innovative blockchains, best cryptocurrencies and the leading contributors in the rise of blockchain technologies.

Meet us there!

Fresh updates! 16th of June Saturday




✅ Hold tight, the big winner of 100,000 COTI coins will be announced in the next newsletter!
✅ The 1,000 first whitelisted members, who won the COTI limited edition debit card, will receive their email next week
✅ Luna Capital partnership
✅ Meet Nimrod Lehavi, COTI’s new board of advisors member
✅ Weekly tech roundup
✅ COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen will be attending the upcoming Japan Blockchain conference taking place in Tokyo June 26-27, 2018.
✅ Great news for COTI’s contributors, in addition to ETH and BTC, you can now see your contributions in COTI! Just log in to your account on coti.io




COTI CEO will be attending the upcoming Japan Blockchain conference



COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen will be attending the upcoming Japan Blockchain conference taking place in Tokyo June 26-27, 2018. More than 10,000 experts in cryptocurrency, blockchain companies, and organizations from all over the world will gather to discuss the future of this groundbreaking technology.
In case you are around, let us know!


Luna Capital partnership




Silicon Valley VC Luna Capital has invested in COTI, with CEO Lindsey Maule joining COTI’s board of advisors. Luna Capital’s mission is to identify winning projects and assets that are going to grow and improve the cryptocurrency ecosystem, solve problems, rise in market cap and provide long-term value.
They are especially interested in DAG-based projects that strive to improve the limitations in blockchain technology today.
Read the full article.


Read full newsletter here <<< https://mailchi.mp/coti.io/the-latest-news-at-coti?e=f680449d59

Fresh updates! 15th of June Friday



What is Coti?

--------


Hey guys, for those who are not registered to our newsletter, make sure you do, we are gathering lots of information there and in all aspects, technology, legal, partnerships and information about giveaways! Stay in loop, understand what is happening with COTI, you are a part of it.
Sign up though www.coti.io
 
--------




In the world of digital currencies, there are countless options to choose from, which is why we’re breaking down the differences for you. This time - COTI vs Nano:

https://goo.gl/WRxbwQ

Fresh updates! 13th of June Wednesday

📌Great news for COTI’s contributors, you can now see your contributions also in COTI! Just login to your account on www.coti.io

📌We are inviting you to join COTI’s Chinese telegram group on: https://t.me/coti_chinese



Join us on COTI's Instagram to stay in the loop with all of our exciting updates and cool illustrations.
See you there! https://www.instagram.com/cotinetwork/


- Fresh review from a website called caviar.io — we got 8.2 points out of 10, check it yourself : https://news.caviar.io/new-project-review-coti-e09cc486a1cb
- Hey guys, we have some great news, Nimrod Lehavi, co-founder and CEO of Simplex, joins COTI’s board of advisors. Read about it on Medium https://goo.gl/Fe8gfy


🔥 Cool illustration:

With over two decades of experience in Israel’s start-up sector, Nimrod is well respected for leading large-scale software projects that catalyze profound change.



A self-confessed crypto head, Nimrod Lehavi is a serial entrepreneur and advisor to a number of tech startups in Tel Aviv, including Orbs, one of COTI’s most recent partnerships. He is also the co-founder and CEO of Simplex, a FinTech and cyber security company that aims to introduce merchants to a world without fraud.

As a board member of the Israeli Bitcoin Association, Lehavi saw opportunity in the Bitcoin ecosystem, where Simplex first got its start, enabling bitcoin exchanges, brokers, wallet holders and credit cards to operate with full fraud chargeback guarantee. Since then, Simplex has expanded its services to other verticals, providing a full suite solution to merchants who want to completely remove credit card fraud from their daily operations.

Nimrod Lehavi commented:

“There are no shortcuts to guaranteeing security for online payment processing. Our in-depth experience and collective track record at Simplex will position us to provide the best solutions for all businesses looking to operate in a risk-free online environment. COTI is one of them, and I’m excited to provide my insights into facilitating risk-free online payment processing.”

“Over 3000 merchants have applied for our upcoming alpha net launch. It goes without saying that fraud-free payment processing will be at the forefront of the COTI network’s ongoing efforts. We couldn’t be happier to have Nimrod on board to advise us on eliminating online payment risk and making e-commerce safer for everyone around the globe,” added COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen.

For further information, visit COTI and Simplex. You can also read COTI’s business overview and whitepaper.

More about Simplex:

Based on advanced AI technology, Simplex’s automated system streamlines online payment processing while assessing risk with maximum speed and accuracy. Simplex integrates with online crypto exchanges to fulfill the credit card payment process. Hence, Simplex is responsible for risk analysis, processing payments with the credit card company and finalizing the transaction. Simplex is licensed as a payment institution in the EU and operates in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

The COTI community is continuously growing at a rapid rate. If you have any questions, you are welcome to get in touch with us on Telegram or via email. We will be providing further updates in the near future.

                                                                 
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Could you tell us about which conference you are talking about?



Please send an email to support@coti.io and your mail will be forwarded to the relevant person.


COTI will have its own exchange as outlined in the business overview document, which you can read online. Further details concerning the exchange will soon be released.

The COTI alpha net is rapidly translating into real results. Read the weekly tech roundups from the COTI Dev team: https://goo.gl/QfR2Va


📌Today, at 1 pm, ‘TechTalks’ hosted by our Research Engineer @taldadia

Tech Talks will take place Monday to Thursday at 1 pm UTC in COTI's Telegram group https://t.me/COTInetwork

Each session will discuss a new COTI tech topic, so we welcome anyone who'd like to join the conversation.

Be sure to bring your notebooks and questions!

Watch Tal's video explanation about COTI's TrustChain Consensus Algorithm  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfQZLJbXZ80&t=13s

Read Tal's personal Medium blog:  https://goo.gl/qbv9EL




We offer the possibility for anyone to register to be a user in the COTI network. The registration is made at https://coti.io/en/consumers.html
Each user who will later on undergo a KYC verification process, will be able to have a wallet on the alpha net launch in September 2018, with 100 COTI tokens offered as a token of appreciation for being an early adopter.
People who are merchants, can do the same and register to reserve a merchant wallet at https://coti.io/en/merchants.html




We don't have any referral program/link as this is highly against regulations.


If you participated in the community pre-sale, you should be able to log in on the website at https://presale.coti.io/?lang=en
All the details of your contribution will be available in few days and we will update our community as soon as it is ready. Stay tuned with us.

Please contact us at support@coti.io

COTI IN THE NEWS:


COTI reached its community pre-sale cap, raising $3 million within 27 hours. Until now, COTI has raised over $13M from private investors as part of its $30M hard cap goal.

Read more:  https://goo.gl/t9pQs1

See answer below.


- We will soon announce if there is going to be another public sale. Stay tuned and join our Telegram group to be alwayd updated or make sure you subscribe to our newsletter on the website.




- to be more accurate, the demand in the private sale is very high but it was important for COTI to involve as much community members as possible.
As the community presale was such a success ( $3M raised in 27 hours! ) it only shows that the community is very close to the project. We want to take into consideration all the requests and wishes and we are niw evaluating if there is going to be another public sale. Nothing is said yet. We will announce soon.








- Not sure I understood the question but if you mean about the roadmap and what is planned in terms of project, I invite you to see the roadmap in the homepage of our website.

Besides, our Alpha version is under development and should be release in Q3/18, as per the roadmap which appears in our website. You can refer to our protocol prototype simulation: https://simulation.coti.io/
After our token sale, we’re looking to release the prototypes of our consumer wallet, nodes and Trust Score Server. We’ll also be launching the test net.
You can see the roadmap on our website. The Alpha net launch will start in August 2018. The COTI wallet and COTI exchange platform should be on full launch by the end of 2018. In 2019, will be the rampu up of the merchants and mediators to the network and COTI debit card launch.
We regularly update our community of any new step.

Hey there bitcointalk users!

Here's one of our daily  technology sessions that we share on telegram every day.

I invite you to watch a video interview done by Shahaf Bar Geffen, COTI CEO, for ‘Ivan on tech’ to understand more deeply what does COTI stands for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI6rjBKQMMs&feature=youtu.be

Hey there bitcointalk users!

Here's one of our daily  technology sessions that we share on telegram every day.

Watch Tal's video explanation about COTI's TrustChain Consensus Algorithm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfQZLJbXZ80&t=13s

Read Tal's personal Medium blog: https://goo.gl/qbv9EL

COTI recently featured across a number of sites including the David Pakman show, King Crypto and In it for the Money. See what they have to say below in this week’s COTI media roundup.



This week’s best of COTI in the media:

COTI’s CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen recently sat down with David Pakman to discuss everything related to the cryptocurrency sphere. Many digital currencies suffer from scalability and volatility issues, as well as regulation shortcomings and lack of buyer-seller protections. COTI aims to solve these deficiencies through instantaneity, hedging services, regulatory frameworks and buyer seller protections.

https://youtu.be/jj4zcuI6Vjg

“The David Pakman Show” is a daily internationally syndicated politics and news talk show airing on radio, television, and the internet, and on Free Speech TV via DirecTV and DISH Network.

King Crypto, a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiast, recently reviewed the COTI platform on his YouTube channel. King Crypto’s videos are designed to help newcomers and veterans of the digital currency world to make the best decisions possible. COTI received a 10/10 on his ICO Rating Sheet, which covered the website, team, vision, whitepaper and more.

Check out what else he has to say about COTI and why his channel is one of the fastest growing crypto destinations on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/SBJMQAcMH9w

Asgar Folmann of YouTube’s In It for the Money recently reviewed COTI. In his video, he surveys everything from the community pre-sale all the way through to the business overview and whitepaper. Hear what he has to say about the project.

Crypto Chemist reports on the COTI project: “COTI is the all new digital currency built for payments! COTI is revolutionizing the payment systems of crypto and they have a very strong team for their project!”

Tune into his YouTube for the full review:

https://youtu.be/QeIfJbZsK3Y

COTI recently received an A- ICO rating by Crypto 99, who reflects on whether COTI can become the crypto version of PayPal. So what are some of the benefits according to Crypto 99?

• Revolutionary technology (Cluster and Trustchain™)
• Aim to solve many issues with both the Cluster and Trustchain™
• Exponential scalability
• Large team with big-name experience
• The payments space needs disruption

 See more of what he has to say:

https://youtu.be/I9cqy2TY2Wo

For our Indonesian speakers around the world, Ujang Saepuloh provides his insights about the COTI project. We also have something for our Russian audience, in a new video that speculates on whether COTI could become the next PayPal.

Legit Crypto, a YouTube channel dedicated to cryptocurrency news, cryptocurrency price predictions, crypto talks and ICO reviews recently reviewed the COTI project. Check out what Danny, Legit Crypto’s host, has to say about COTI:

https://youtu.be/Vf-jT5WIbfA

Your Altcoins is an up and coming YouTube channel dedicated to providing information on the best altcoins in the cryptocyrrency market. Check out their latest video below that weighs in on COTI and whether it could be a HODLers paradise.

https://youtu.be/Yw3RESZrwUA

We are excited to announce that COTI’s community pre-sale has reached its cap! $3,001,028 raised in 27 hours! For more details, get in touch with us on our Telegram group or via email.

                                                                 
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Please join us in welcoming Lindsey Maule, CEO of Silicon Valley VC Luna Capital, to COTI’s board of advisors.

Silicon Valley VC Luna Capital has invested in COTI, Currency of the Internet, with CEO Lindsey Maule joining COTI’s board of advisors. Luna Capital’s mission is to identify winning projects and assets that are going to grow and improve the cryptocurrency ecosystem, solve problems, rise in market cap and provide long-term value. They are especially interested in DAG-based projects that strive to improve the limitations in blockchain technology today. “I believe DAGs are the next generation of blockchain and have the potential to disrupt the status quo in a range of industries,” said Maule.

Lindsey was formerly head of cryptocurrency research at Precursor Ventures, a pre-seed/seed VC firm. She started trading and investing in cryptocurrencies in 2013 and has previous experience managing capital and a background in financial markets, business development, economics and statistics. Lindsey especially focuses on pre-ICO and ICO investments.


Lindsey Maule - Luna Capital

COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen commented:

“Luna Capital is a crypto asset hedge fund that focuses on scalability coins and DAGs, which is a perfect fit for COTI. We are pleased to welcome Lindsey to COTI’s board of advisors, as she joins us in our mission to grow the COTI network and amplify our reach around the world and specifically in Silicon Valley.”

For more information, please visit Luna Capital and COTI.

We are excited to announce that COTI’s community pre-sale has reached its cap! $3,001,028 raised in 27 hours! For more details, get in touch with us on our Telegram group or via email.

                                                                 
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📌The COTI community is one of the main reasons for our success, so we'd like to keep you in the loop with all the new tech developments COTI will be introducing very soon.

Starting tomorrow, COTI will be launching a new Telegram session called Tech Talks hosted by our Research Engineer Tal Dadia. Each session will discuss a new COTI tech topic, so we welcome anyone who'd like to join the conversation.

Tech Talks will take place Monday to Thursday at 1 pm UTC in COTI's Telegram group https://t.me/COTInetwork. Be sure to bring your notebooks and questions!

                                                                 
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COTI is happy to announce that we have partnered with two technology firms, Advanced Blockchain AG and nakamoto.to. Both firms possess a wide industry network and by leveraging this network, COTI will aim towards integrating its protocol — one that is scalable, fast and based on trust — into a range of businesses beyond the payments sphere. The two firms, with a strong belief in the COTI vision, have also invested capital into the COTI project.

Advanced Blockchain AG is a publicly listed German company, focusing on the design, development and deployment of DLT software for companies and their operations and services.

Michael Geike at Advanced Blockchain AG, commented:
“With a strong focus on research and development, we can see the great potential of the COTI project. Together, we will explore real world implementation of the protocol across markets and industries.”


Michael Geike - Advanced Blockchain AG

nakamo.to is a Berlin-based company that focuses on research, development, education and raising awareness on Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) with a special focus on novel DLT systems such as the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG).

Robert A. Küfner at nakamo.to commented:
“Our business is focused on innovative DLTs, and COTI was a perfect match. Our team views COTI as a global tech solution, based on its DAG structure that is scalable and efficient.”


Robert A. Küfner - nakamo.to

Both the Advanced Blockchain AG and nakamo.to teams are comprised of high-level researchers and developers, all of whom work to advance the frontiers of DLT.

The partnerships with Advanced Blockchain AG and nakamo.to and will serve to further the development of COTI’s Trustchain, which functions on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure. Together COTI, nakamo.to and Advanced Blockchain AG will continue to work towards advancing the utilization of the DAG and raising awareness about this alternative to blockchain.

COTI CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen further added:
“The COTI protocol will eventually become a platform from which businesses can build countless other apps beyond the payments use case.”

The partnerships also herald an important step in COTI’s marketing strategy across the European continent and in particular Berlin, the crypto-hub of Europe. Whilst nakamo.to will employ their marketing and community building techniques to spread the influence of COTI, Advanced Blockchain AG will be researching and exploring potential for development of the COTI protocol which may lead other businesses beyond the payments industry to also build their systems on the COTI protocol.

The partnerships come at a very exciting time, with COTI looking to establish itself across the globe and allow businesses everywhere to benefit from the Trustchain.


Team meetup in COTI’s head offices in Israel

                                                                 
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Hexa Labs will lend its expertise in developing advanced technical and design components within the COTI platform.

Hexa Labs is a leading global consulting and advisory company whose proficiency lies in solving complex blockchain challenges. Hexa Labs creates effective solutions that assist its clients with launching industry-leading decentralized applications.

Hexa Lab’s team of solution architects, blockchain experts, analysts, strategists and developers work to provide unprecedented solutions for smart digital wallets, blockchain infrastructure, smart contracts and secured systems. Their holistic service offering facilitates advanced application builds on multiple blockchains to efficiently deploy distributed ledger technology in a secure environment. Hexa Labs clients include three of the top 10 ICOs of 2017, including Orbs, one of COTI’s most recent partnerships.

Uriel Peled, co-founder of Hexa Labs commented:

“We are very excited to work with COTI. Blockchain technology is perfectly suited for payments, and COTI is taking full advantage of this. Our work with COTI will position them to become the leading digital payments network”.


Uriel Peled

Shahaf Bar-Geffen, COTI’s CEO, further added:

“Our partnership with Hexa Labs couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, as there’s a lot in store for COTI in the upcoming months — from our alpha net to the beta launch of our exchange and wallet. Expectations are high, so we’re excited to have Hexa Labs on-board advising the COTI team with regards to its decentralized application launch and maintenance.”

For further information, visit COTI and Hexa Labs. You can also read COTI’s business overview and whitepaper.

About COTI: COTI, Currency of the Internet, is a cryptocurrency that is tailor made for payments. It reconciles the best of digital currencies with the best of traditional payments, namely Visa and Mastercard, through its innovative base protocol known as the Trustchain. Based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG), The COTI Trustchain creates a scalable and blockless protocol that can be utilized by any industry that needs high throughput and trust to operate, such as the payments space. With low-to-zero fees, full buyer-seller protections, its Trust Scoring Engine and decentralised Mediation System, COTI combines the best of traditional payment methods with the best of digital currencies.

For further information, visit COTI and Hexa Labs. You can also read COTI’s business overview and whitepaper.

About COTI: COTI, Currency of the Internet, is a cryptocurrency that is tailor made for payments. It reconciles the best of digital currencies with the best of traditional payments, namely Visa and Mastercard, through its innovative base protocol known as the Trustchain. Based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG), The COTI Trustchain creates a scalable and blockless protocol that can be utilized by any industry that needs high throughput and trust to operate, such as the payments space. With low-to-zero fees, full buyer-seller protections, its Trust Scoring Engine and decentralised Mediation System, COTI combines the best of traditional payment methods with the best of digital currencies.

                                                                 
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COTI has partnered with Isazi to further support its R&D efforts in developing its Trustchain™ algorithm and Mediation System.

Isazi Consulting is a specialist AI, machine learning and optimization company that builds AI engines for companies from a range of industries. Isazi’s skills have been applied across a number of disciplines, including software and app development, fraud detection, pharmaceuticals and airline optimisation.

The Isazi team is composed of highly talented individuals from the fields of computer science, biomedicine, information and electrical engineering, physics, applied and pure mathematics, and financial mathematics. Isazi has a strong connection to a network of universities and individuals around the world who are at the forefront of academia, and are therefore well positioned to implement cutting edge research that would normally take years to reach the business world.


Isazi Consulting specializes in AI and machine learning

Isazi will be assisting with COTI’s R&D efforts in preparation for the upcoming alpha net launch in August, in addition to the beta wallet and exchange launch in September.


Trustchain™ algorithm and Mediation System

Ashley Anthony, CEO of ISAZI Consulting , commented:

“We partnered with COTI on the mathematical content and proofs of their core algorithms, and on designing simulations to stress test the system and rapidly prototype new algorithms. The design and implementation of a robust DAG-based cryptocurrency, algorithmically determined Trustchain™ and mediation system was a really interesting problem to solve! It has been a pleasure working with the technical team at COTI to solve this. They are knowledgeable, responsive and creative and are committed to building the world’s most reliable payment platform using cryptocurrency.”

Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO of COTI, further added:

“Our collaboration with Isazi will enable COTI to build the most solid infrastructure for our Trustchain™ algorithm and Mediation System. These are two of the fundamental components in the COTI ecosystem, so having Isazi on-board with their extensive knowledge in advanced algorithm and optimisation will set us off on the right track to achieving our milestones.”

About COTI: COTI, Currency of the Internet, is a cryptocurrency that is tailor made for payments. It reconciles the best of digital currencies with the best of traditional payments, namely Visa and Mastercard, through its innovative base protocol known as the TrustchainTM. Based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG), The COTI TrustchainTM creates a scalable and blockless protocol that can be utilized by any industry that needs high throughput and trust to operate, such as the payments space. With low-to-zero fees, full buyer-seller protections, its Trust Scoring Engine and decentralised Mediation System, COTI combines the best of traditional payment methods with the best of digital currencies.

For further information, visit COTI and Isazi. You can also read COTI’s business overview and whitepaper.

                                                                 
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We completed some of our ongoing research and development on all fronts of the COTI roadmap over the last few weeks, and progress is translating into real results.

• We continued working on the User Types and Trust Score Update Algorithms (TSUAs). We have finalized all ITSA definitions and applied several machine learning modules. We also moved forward with our TSUAs algorithms and defined the algorithm for tracking trustworthy vs bad-acting participants in the network. In our AlphaNet, the modules will be used for consumers and merchants, whereas in our TestNet, Trust Scores will be included to track node behavior and to manage their reputation.
• We have finalized our Trust Score API, which will handle communication between the Trust Score Server, Full Nodes, and wallets. The first release of our ITSA + ML modules is now internally available.
• The first release of our Trust Score Node is developing rapidly, and we have finalized the first version that will support the TrustScore API. The current Trust Score Node consists of the following: double spending, mediation ruling, turnovers and merchant chargebacks.
• We have finished the second version of COTI’s Mediation System specifications. The mediation process and nodes are in our expedited development phase.
• Our research and development team is continuing work towards finalizing the first draft of the COTI base protocol. There has been a lot of progress in developing the following AlphaNet components:

1. Compose Hash Algorithm
We are researching if multiple hash algorithms can assist us in reducing collisions. For example, if concatenation on the hash will be better as it will necessitate simultaneous collisions on both hashes.
2.Public-Key (Signature)
We are currently researching the best algorithm to use for our public key signature.
3.Proof Of Work (PoW) Algorithm
We have started working on our DAG attachment algorithm, which combines the Trust Score and other variants to define the PoW required for validating a transaction. The idea is that transactions with a low Trust Score will require more PoW. A higher Trust Score will require less PoW because lower Trust Score participants are more prone to spam the network with invalid transactions. The complexity of generating the PoW is going to be controlled by the Cluster in a way that is based on node load.

                                                                 
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This past week COTI was in Gibraltar at the offices of the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC) to present its case for complying with the 9 principles set out by the GFSC, which is required to obtain a distributed ledger technology (DLT) license.

In today’s world, Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) procedures are an integral part of the onboarding process of many financial service businesses. KYC/AML legislation, however, does not address legislatory execution, which is why KYC and AML requirements often differ from bank to bank. This shortcoming becomes all the more magnified as KYC/AML procedures are difficult to outsource due to divergent regulatory requirements around the globe. Therefore, it is more effective to institute KYC/AML procedures within the framework of a functional payment ecosystem.

COTI, Currency of the Internet, is one such payment network that aims to provide KYC/AML services for its users in line with applicable laws and regulations. COTI’s onboarding process is streamlined through its partnership with a number of reputable identity verification providers, such as globaliD, banks and exchanges. Users that join the COTI network can select their preferred identity verification provider to perform all relevant KYC/AML procedures. KYC/AML data in the COTI network is also used to calculate Trust Scores, which determine transaction fees and payment confirmation times.

While identity verification may not be a problem for well-banked populations in developed countries, it is a major challenge in developing countries. COTI offers a functional solution for the unbanked population, which amounts to two billion people around the world without access to financial services, by providing a simple, convenient and regulated onboarding procedure.


Carlos M. Martins, COTI’s Gibraltar business director, recently explained the importance of this license along with COTI’s regulatory status in our Telegram AMA. In the Q&A, Carlos also answered the community’s questions regarding COTI’s legal, compliance and regulatory framework.

Carlos, how are you helping COTI?

I run COTI’s Gibraltar office and make sure that all COTI processes and procedures are compliant with local regulations. I also ensure that the KYC process works as smoothly as possible.

How would you say your role at banks, such as Soc Gen, has helped prepare you for this role?

Having worked at Credit Suisse and Soc Gen, I was able to accumulate plenty of insights into the banking sphere. Some of the major banks are still struggling with cryptocurrency concepts, but they will get there eventually. As a result, the understanding of how payments are traditionally processed highlights certain imperfections of current payment systems and helps to improve the industry.

Is COTI regulated?

COTI has applied for a DLT license in Gibraltar. The license for the exchange is currently in its final stage. The exchange platform and the ICO are both regulated in line with local regulatory frameworks.

Why is COTI registered in Gibraltar?

Because Gibraltar was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to create a legal and legislative framework for DLT technology. As COTI’s aim is to do business in a prudent manner and to provide clients with the safety of having a clear regulatory framework, we decided that Gibraltar was a very viable option. Aside from that, the government is very welcoming, the regulator is business-minded, the local lawyers are at professional and we have 300 days of sunshine per year.

In which countries does COTI plan to have an operational license?

We are looking into other countries that are crypto-friendly with a sound regulatory framework. Canada, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Japan and Australia are some options, as well as other countries.

What is a DLT license?

DLT stands for Distributed Ledger Technology, but it’s not only about blockchain, Bitcoin and Ethereum. DLT covers the whole spectrum of operations linked to blockchain technology. COTI is using a DAG that is based on DLT technology. If a legal entity wishes to operate in Gibraltar using blockchain technology, it will need to apply for a DLT license. Such licenses need to be approved by the regulator. You are welcome to read more at the following link www.fsc.gi/dlt

Why does it take a long time to obtain such a license?

You need to demonstrate that you comply with the 9 principles set out by the local regulator. It is not only a matter of saying that you do something, but providing evidence that you effectively do what you say. Unfortunately, there are players in the market that have nice and shiny whitepapers, but do not live up to the expectations they have created. Before issuing a license, regulators need to make sure that they are not licensing someone who does not play by the rules. These things take time. In Gibraltar, as compared to other jurisdictions, it will take 3 to 4 months to receive the license from the date of application.

What are the 9 principles?

The principles are: honesty and integrity, customer care, resources, risk management, protection of client assets, corporate governance, systems and securities access, protection against financial crime and resilience.

What will getting a DLT license mean for COTI?

It means that the COTI ICO and exchange will be operating from Gibraltar.

What do we need KYC/AML for? How reliable are these procedures?

We need to make sure that the clients we onboard do not have a criminal background or any association to money laundering or terrorist financing. Our procedures are fully aligned with the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4AMLD), as well as 5AMLD. So this is quite reliable and well ahead of the game.

Why is the KYC registration process taking so long? Can you do something to speed up the process?

We have asked our clients to complete KYC/AML registration in order to prepare them for the upcoming ICO. Due to high demand, we have received a large influx of whitelist registrations. We value your patience during this time and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Why is the US restricted?

We have an appetite to conduct business in the United States and plan to expand into it in a prudent and responsible manner once our regulatory environment is well established. From a legal standpoint, the US government has instituted restrictions for citizens and residents participating in ICOs and cryptocurrency-related endeavours. Therefore, registration from restricted countries will not be possible in the initial stages, but we do plan to become widely-adopted globally.

Carlos, how would you convince people to trust you with their documents?

As of 25 May, 2018 the updated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was released. The GDPR sets forth very stringent regulations regarding how client information is stored and managed. COTI complies with all such regulations for its KYC procedure. You can view the GDPR requirements online and how COTI complies with them.

What do you think about the future of cryptocurrencies?

In my opinion, this is a major revolution that will change everything. For the time being, the majority of regulators are trying to assess the crypto space according to what they know and the models that are familiar to them. They are growing into the space like everyone else and are learning at the same time. I am sure that DLT technology will be used to make regulations more efficient, effective and less cumbersome in some aspects in the future.

Do you have anything to say to the community before the community pre-sale registration ends?

It is great to have you all there supporting this project. You are making it happen, and we are very grateful for all the support you have provided us with. We are incredibly grateful to have such a loving and supportive community.

                                                                 
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