Secure your place as an online merchant

COTI is leading the way in the adoption of digital currency across mainstream markets. Since mid-April, over 2,000 professional e-commerce merchants from around the globe have signed up to use COTI’s payments system, in addition to over 50,000 platform users. They have signed up to the alpha net version of COTI’s platform, in anticipation of the full launch later this summer, demonstrating that COTI’s payments system is the crypto solution of choice.

This marks an important milestone in the company’s development. Spanning a variety of sectors within the e-commerce space, the new merchants include popular mobile casino sites Monaco Players Club and Royal Savoy Casino, as well as Volunteer Southern Africa, an organisation which has hosted over 9,500 volunteers across projects in South Africa.

Merchants benefit from COTI’s unique network for decentralized and scalable payments, which aims to solve the challenges posed not only by traditional payment methods, but also by current key cryptocurrencies, by facilitating efficient, secure, frictionless and cost-effective international commerce.

COTI achieves this by using a next-generation blockchain system which consists of DAG (directed acyclic graphs) structures. In using this cutting edge technology, COTI has developed a new base protocol, the Trustchain™. Unlike current blockchain systems, which have serious issues with speed and scalability, the Trustchain™ can process 10,000 transactions per second. COTI is set to launch a full payments ecosystem, comprising the COTI coin, wallet, and a currency exchange. Merchants who have signed up will have access to all these applications.

Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO of COTI, commented:“We have been very pleased with the high level of interest and take-up we have seen from merchants and users in the past weeks. This accelerated growth further demonstrates the strength of COTI’s innovative solution, which we are constantly developing to benefit those signing up. Our objective is to set the standard for next generation payments, and signing up over 2,000 new merchants and 50,000 users across the globe marks a significant next step for the business.”

The COTI community is continuously growing at a rapid rate. As a coin of appreciation to our community, we are excited to announce that in the upcoming month we will be launching a special pre-sale limited to our community. If you have any questions, you are welcome to get in touch with us on Telegram or via e-mail. We will be providing further updates in the near future.

                                                                 
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COTI Research and Developers team

There has been great progress in COTI’s R&D over the past few months. We are excited that our TrustchainTM protocol is moving closer to the point of mainstream adoption around the world. Progress on our Trust Score algorithms, Mediation System, COTI protocol and the release of our alpha net is happening quickly. Our research and development teams have also been expanding in parallel to meet the demand.

• We have finalized the first release of the COTI Trust Score algorithm and defined two types of Trust Scores, which we will be implementing in our decentralized TS nodes: Initial Trust Score Algorithm (ITSA) and Trust Score Update Algorithm (TSUA). The Initial Trust Score Algorithm (ITSA) is run when a new user joins the network. This uses prior information about the user to estimate their opening Trust Score in the network. The inputs to this algorithm include KYC/AML and other personal data, while the output is the starting Trust Score assigned to the user, and possibly other supporting information. The Trust Score Update Algorithm (TSUA) is run regularly for existing users of the COTI network. It updates each user’s Trust Score based on their behavior in the system. The inputs to this algorithm are the previous timestamp and Trust Score for a user and all network behavior since that time. The output of this algorithm is the updated Trust Score for that user.
• We have made significant advancements in defining the COTI Mediation System’s first prototype. The COTI Mediation system provides a quick, reliable and inexpensive way to resolve disputes. This highly demanded feature is not possible with other cryptocurrencies. In COTI’s Mediation System, disputes are resolved by a mediator jury, which is randomly selected from a large pool of highly trusted network participants. The process of forming the mediator jury, decision-making and settlements is completely decentralized.
• Intensive work on our first merchant integration solution is in progress. The solution will consist of our first frontend web application, the COTI wallet, and a backend COTI layer, which will serve both the wallet application and third party API calls from a merchant’s backend servers. The intention behind our initial release (prior to the alpha net) is to demonstrate the actual use case and features of COTI’s online payment solution. As such, the ecosystem includes a COTI wallet, a mediation process, Trust Score, distributed COTI backend nodes and fees.

COTI Research and Developers team

• Our research team has been working around the clock to finalize the first draft of COTI’s base protocol. We will have many more updates in the upcoming weeks.
• Our research and development team is in the process of designing an innovative and secure flow that will enable users to reset their wallets and reactivate their blocked account and funds.

                                                                 
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Eli Hallufgil, COTI’s research engineer and technology team leader discussing everything related to the Cluster, COTI’s DAG-based consensus mechanism. Join The LIVE AMA today at 4 PM (GMT +2) on COTI telegram group. https://t.me/COTInetwork
Watch a detailed demo of the underworkings of the DAG in real time, explaining how transactions will be confirmed in the COTI network: http://bit.ly/2FrhUV2

                                                                 
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As a token of appreciation to our community, we are excited to announce that in the upcoming month we will be launching a special pre-sale limited to our community. Join Our Telegram group to get more information about COTI LIMITED COMMUNITY PRESALE: https://t.me/COTInetwork

                                                                 
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More than $34k worth of COTI COINS available!!

Here is how to collect them:

1. GO to Bounty0x platform
https://alpha.bounty0x.io/embed/host/COTI

2. SEARCH for COTI's current Twitter Speed Round

https://alpha.bounty0x.io/bounties/96647

3. FOLLOW the instructions to be rewarded.

⏰ Hurry up! Only 200 users can participate in this bounty!

                                                                 
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[1. Background]

Article by Ido Sadeh

The following is an objective review of COTI ICO. The review is based on certain criteria, which we think are important for an ICO project to succeed. We measure a successful ICO by short term and long term ROI estimation. The following is not a financial advice.

1. Background

COTI (Currency of The Internet) aims to build a decentralized and scalable payments network to facilitate efficient global commerce. Combining distributed ledger technologies with traditional payment solutions, COTI aspires to set a next-generation decentralized payment solution that is trust-driven, instant, and cost-effective. COTI sets itself apart from other payments solutions, by providing a thorough solution that consists of innovative trust mechanism, decentralized mediation system, multi-currency wallet (Fiat and Crypto) and native currency exchange. The driver of the COTI ecosystem will be the COTI coin, a native digital currency.

COTI’s distributed ledger is based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) data structure, similar to the underlying technology of IOTA network. Using the DAG, COTI will allow 10,000+ transactions per second, much more than is needed (VISA peak hours requires ~4,000 t/s).

The team, which consists of 27 full-time members, is hard working on COTI and have laid out a detailed structure for their future network. COTI is to raise ~30 M USD via a private and public coin offering. They already attracted a large and dedicated community, and successfully raised ~10M USD in their private sale.Let’s get going with our evaluation!

2. Introduction

2.1. The Need

The online payment industry is currently encompassing over 1.6 billion people worldwide with annual transaction volume that exceeds 3.265$ Trillion. According to recent researches, the industry is expected to show an annual CAGR of 13.5 % between 2018-2022, resulting in the total amount of $5.411 Trillion in 2022. Along with the growth in the market value, the industry is rapidly changing. New forms of commerce are springing up, and the power balance within the industry is changing. In accordance with the spread of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, the mobile payments volume is swiftly rising and expected to gradually capture a sizeable market share within the online payment market. The rapid growth and changes of the industry, has raised the demand for faster, easier, more scalable, and more reliable payment systems.

2.2. The Problem

Despite the intense competition within the online payment industry, neither digital currencies nor traditional electronic payments, has yet introduced a comprehensive solution for the online payment industry. While traditional online payment systems (e.g. PayPal and Visa) have the ability to scale high-volume of transactions, with fast execution time, they represent major drawbacks in terms of transactions fees. Mainly in cross-currency and cross-border transactions. On the other hand, Digital currencies could represent an alternative, as they have the potential to facilitate payments with greater security and lower transaction fees. However, in practice, they face scaling challenges, low rates of adoption in the context of online payments, and their price is very volatile. In fact, to date, only less than 0.1% of the online payments are made using digital currencies.The following table represents the major benefits and drawbacks of traditional payment systems and digital currencies, along with COTI objectives:

3. The Solution - COTI Ecosystem

The COTI ecosystem consists of four participants: end-users, nodes’ operators, mediators, and merchants. The network was designed with the goal of creating a decentralized payment network that will integrate the benefits of both, traditional payment systems and digital currencies (outlined in the above table). COTI comprises of the following components:

3.1. The Cluster

Instead of using a blockchain-based database, COTI’s distributed ledger is based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG), which they call the Cluster. In DAG-based networks, each transaction must validate two previous transactions in order for it to be confirmed. Hence, the transaction confirmations rate is increasing in accordance with the rising in the number of the network users. COTI found the DAG ideal to achieve their objectives, as it enables to connect transactions simultaneously and asynchronously.

The Cluster will be performed by three types of nodes:

• Full Nodes: these nodes are the user gateways to the network. They choose sources for new transactions to attach to, perform proof-of-work (PoW) and allow new transactions to attach to the Cluster.
• DSP (Double Spend Prevention) Nodes: these nodes maintain an updated copy of the Cluster at any given point in time and monitor transactions to mitigate any possibility of double-spending attacks. To run a DSP node, a large amount of COTI coins must be deposited in a specialized multi-signature account. All DSP node operators are remunerated by the COTI network for their efforts.
• History Nodes: the nodes store the entire history of the Cluster. Full account history can be retrieved from the History nodes. In case the History Node is unable to operate for any reason, COTI's History Servers can be used as a proxy.

3.2. Trust Scoring Mechanism

COTI has implemented another layer of data on every user – the Trust Scores. These scores are the key mechanism by which new, unconfirmed transactions select prior transactions to validate in order to reach transaction confirmation consensus.

Determining Trust Scores: A participant’s Trust Score is initially determined by a general questionnaire and document verification. In the course of time, the Trust Scores will be automatically updated in accordance to the (1) users’ activeness (value of transactions over a set time period), (2) amount of dispute that the participant has been involved (3) number of disputes that were resolved in favor of the participant counterparty (4) and the rating that other transacting parties have assigned to the participant. [The parameters outlined above is non-exhaustive. COTI’s technical whitepaper provides further details of the mechanisms used to determine Trust Scores.]. The Trust Scores are relative values plotted on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the highest possible score. They provide an indication of how participants rank relative to one another within the COTI network, as measured by their contributions to the network’s efficacy over time.

To incentivize users to gain Trust Scores and to foster a trustworthy environment, COTI designed that scores to be associated with the transaction fees: high scores are associated with low fees, while low scores are associated with comparatively high fees; as well as with merchants’ rolling reserve requirements.

The Confirmation Process:  as mentioned, to be added to the Cluster, each transaction (represented by the user’s Trust Score) must validate two previous transactions which are in the range of their Trust Score. As transactions are attached to the Cluster, they collectively form Trust Chains or transactional sets characterized by similar Trust Score thresholds. The Trust Chain Consensus Algorithm ensures that trusted users (i.e. those with higher Trust Scores) are incentivized with optimized transaction confirmations, as their Trust Chains can reach the required cumulative Trust Score threshold faster. In simple words: the transactions’ confirmation time is correlated with the users’ Trust Scores.

To get a better understanding please refer to the following simplified example. The new transaction is the bold one (67). The new transaction validates two transactions which are in the range of its trust score. In the flow of time, the transaction is being confirmed by the path of highest cumulative trust (the cumulative Trust Score is boldened and the path of highest cumulative trust is highlighted in green).

Using the DAG structure along with the Trust Chains Consensus Algorithm, the Cluster may achieve transaction confirmation rate of 10,000 TPS – as compared to Blockchain systems that can process an average of 20 TPS. To keep things in perspective, Visa handles on average around 2,000 TPS, while its daily peak rate is around 4,000 TPS.

3.3.  The Mediation System

Mediators are simply taking responsibility if disputes arise within the network. The Mediators do not approve transactions, but rather solve disputes. They are required when one of the following scenarios occurred: Billing errors, Inadvertent transfers (when a user inadvertently sends funds to the wrong party), Unauthorized charges, Undelivered goods or services, and Non-conforming goods or services. In each of the above scenarios, if the sender and receiver of funds are unable to resolve the dispute directly, the unsatisfied party can initiate.

Each dispute involves few several Mediators who work independently to validate real-world information regarding the transaction disputes. The mediators are encouraged to reach similar conclusions on a dispute in the absence of being able to coordinate (similar in certain ways to Augur consensus mechanism). After the Mediators validate the information, they then cast votes using the mediator client. Along with their votes, the mediators deposit COTI coins. The votes are then calculated and based on the majority of the votes, the system compensates the winning party and returns that party’s balance to its rightful state. The mediators that their votes are consistent with the majority of the votes, will be remunerated by the COTI network for their efforts. Mediators who chose to act maliciously, will not be subject to any sanction, but rather they will lose their deposited tokens (those tokens will be used to pay for the other mediators).

To ensure full distributed governance, COTI is taking the following steps: (1) prevent collusions: COTI designed an algorithm that will route mediators who have the least likelihood to collude with one another; and if mediators are found to have engaged in any form of collusion, they will be severely penalized. (2) Mediator recruitment and training. Individuals who wish to register as mediators must satisfy certain requirements before being admitted to the mediator platform. COTI will also make available online training programs that can assist candidates in acquiring the requisite knowledge for contributing to the dispute resolution process effectively.

Merchant rolling reserve: A rolling reserve is a risk management strategy to protect the payment service provider and its banks from potential loss due to chargebacks, it is commonly used in traditional payment systems (Paypal). Rolling reserve requirements are calculated based on the merchant’s turnover and Trust Score. The rolling reserve requirements are expected to be lower than existing payments networks. Every merchant transaction will incur a rolling reserve fee, in COTI native currency, that is reserved for a number of days. When the rolling reserve term has ended, funds are released back to the merchant’s account. As mentioned earlier, the rolling reserve is used when a merchant has lost a mediated. Merchants that do not meet the rolling reserve requirements will be unable to sell goods and services within the COTI network.

3.4. Native Currency (COTI)

COTI’s native currency will drive the networks and fuels the interactions between consumers, merchants, mediators and node operators. The currency will serve the following functions:

• Medium of exchange that can be used when making and receiving payments in the COTI ecosystem. While the COTI network supports multiple fiat and digital currencies, participants are incentivized to use COTI over other currencies for its efficacy as a payment method and low-to-zero transaction fees.
• Mediation stakes and payouts are denominated in COTI coins. As such, mediators are required to hold COTI coins whenever they wish to engage in mediation.
• Merchant rolling reserve funds are denominated in COTI coins and automatically accumulate in the merchant’s account for a defined term.
• Incentives for Node Operators. All nodes operators will be incentivized in COTI coins and will be required to hold COTI whenever they wish to validate node activity.
• Fees: All the COTI network’s fees can be paid solely with COTI coins.

3.5. COTI’s Currency Exchange

To provide an easy-to-use payment solution, COTI is developing a currency exchange that provides network participants with continuous access to liquid markets in a range of digital and fiat currency pairs. Meaning that end-users will be able to transfer their holdings from one currency to another, without having to withdraw their holding from their COTI’s wallet. Moreover, it will allow network’s participant to pay and receive funds directly in whichever currencies they wish, regardless of their counterparties’ preferred currencies.

Security: All traffic in COTI’s exchange is encrypted end-to-end using Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 (utilizing SHA256 keys), and all data-at-rest is secured with AES-256 encryption. Each step in the currency exchange process is transactional, such that if any part of a step in the exchange process fails, the entire step fails.

3.6. Decentralized Governance

COTI intent to provide voting rights for executing changes in COTI’s base protocol and deciding future use cases of the COTI coin.

4. Applications and Services

4.1. The consumers

Due to scalability challenges and relative complexity, digital currencies are rarely being used in payment use cases (compared to traditional payment systems). Thus, a primary focus of COTI’s application has been on making digital currencies as easy to acquire and use as their fiat equivalents.

Wallets: COTI’s main consumer offering is a multi-currency wallet that provides instant and easy access to the COTI payments network and supports a variety of consumer payment use cases, including peer-to-peer transactions with peers who hold COTI wallets and nearby wallet-to-wallet transactions. COTI wallets can further be used simply as a “bank account” for the purpose of holding funds (both, digital and fiat currencies). The COTI wallet is being developed as a native mobile application and as a web application accessible via COTI’s website. Users will be able to open wallets via the COTI website and applications, as well as during the checkout procedure on COTI-powered merchants’ websites.

Debit cards: COTI is offering users access to debit cards that link directly to COTI wallets. The rationale for offering these cards is that they will enable users to effect payments from their COTI wallets when dealing with merchants that have not yet integrated with COTI. COTI users will be able to specify their preferred currency each time they create a virtual debit card. When a purchase is made using a card linked to a currency that does not match the payment currency, COTI’s exchange will automatically convert the required amount of the card linked currency to the purchase currency.

4.2. For Merchants

COTI is developing a suite of merchant tools and services that make COTI a compelling proposition for merchants, as an addition to, or as a replacement for, their existing payment systems.

Processing tools: COTI is developing processing tools that will enable merchants to start accepting payments from COTI wallet holders. Merchants will be able to choose whether they wish to connect to COTI’s payment rails via API or by embedding an IFrame (Inline Frame) into their websites. COTI-powered merchants will have access to a dashboard that provides detailed data and reporting functionality on their COTI network transactions. Within this dashboard, merchants will choose which COTI supported currencies they wish to accept, as well as their preferred settlement currencies. Moreover, the dashboard will provide merchants with wallet-like functionality that enables them to make payments to COTI wallet holders and to other COTI-powered merchants, as well as to use COTI’s currency exchange facility. Merchants will also be able to run their own Full Node with a customized wallet to streamline the transactional experience for customers.

Hedging services: COTI recognizes that one of the barriers preventing merchant acceptance of digital currencies is the volatility they may be exposed to between the time a payment is received and the time of settlement. COTI will remove this barrier by creating an internal derivatives market that enables network participants to enter forwards contracts and buy and sell put/call options that are denominated in COTI coins. A Black-Scholes option model will be used for the put option price, while the option premium (the income received) will be calculated based on the option strike price (for put options, the price at which shares can be sold), the option term (the period during which an option is active) and COTI’s price volatility. In the early stages, these options will be limited to a 30-day period and will only cover payments denominated in COTI coins.

COTI will operate a marketplace where market makers will be required to deposit collateral into a special margin account that is denominated in COTI coins. The margin requirement will be lower for network participants with high Trust Scores and higher for those with low Trust Scores. COTI is currently in discussions with several institutes that are willing to serve as market makers.

4.3.  For Mediators

 To address the volume of disputes occurring in the network at any given time, COTI is developing an application that will allow mediators to accept invitations to receive and review caseload data, to place wagers, and, in the event of successfully contributing to a mediated outcome, to receive payouts in COTI.

5. Token Economy

Initially, an ERC-20 tokens will be issued for the purposes of providing an official record of tokens sold. Following the launch of the COTI main net, the ERC-20 tokens will be converted into tokens issued on the COTI network’s transaction ledger. The ERC-20 tokens are expected to be listed on at least one major exchange no later than the end of September 2018.

Token allocation

The total supply of COTI tokens during the formative stages of the network will be limited to 2,000,000,000 COTI. These tokens will be allocated in accordance with the table below:

Tokens supply: Due to the Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) structure and the decentralized nature of the COTI network, it will not be possible for additional COTI tokens to be created following the genesis transaction. Therefore, an additional 2,000,000,000 COTI will be created and locked in reserve, so the maximum supply of the token will be 4,000,000,000 COTI. These tokens won’t be released before the COTI’s Main net launch, and they will be subject to harsh restrictions (Token sale summary, p.5 )

According to the team, COTI may occasionally initiate additional token sales from the reserve.

5.1. Token Sale

5.2. Vesting Discounts

Private sale contributors must commit to a lock-up period of 6-24 months on 50% of their tokens, while the team, early backers and advisors must commit to a lock-up period of 6-24 months on the entirety of their tokens. The discount rate is relative to the vesting time: 6 months – 5%, 12 months – 10%, and 24 months -20% ; These discounts are in addition to the discounts given during the private and pre-ICO rounds.

6. The Team

6.1. The core team consists of 27 full-time members.

David Assaraf (Co-founder, Business Development). David previously served as the chief internal auditor at HSBC Israel and as an examiner in the credit risk unit of the Bank of Israel’s banking supervision department.

Shahaf Bar-Geffen (CEO). Shahaf is the co-founder and former CEO of WEB3, a leading multinational digital marketing firm. Shahaf holds a BSc degree in biotech and economics from Tel Aviv University.

6.2. Advisors

Matt McBrady – Matthew was the Chief Investment Officer for the Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund Platform at BlackRock. He has held senior roles at Silver Creek Capital and at Bain Capital. Matthew holds a Ph.D. in Business Economics from Harvard University, and he was a professor of finance at the Darden School and Wharton.

Greg Kidd – Greg is the co-founder of Hard Yaka and an early investor in numerous startups in the exchange space including Ripple, where he served as CRO, Shift, Coinbase and 3taps, and previously Square and Twitter. Greg holds an MBA from Yale University and MPA from Harvard University.

Sebastian Stupurac – Sebastian is the co-founder of WINGS, a smart contract facilitation platform operating on the DAPPS Ethereum blockchain.

Steven Heilbron - Steven has served as the global head of private banking and joint CEO of Investec Bank in London.

7. Partnerships

COTI has established significant alliances with strategic partners: a partnership with Bancor, that will allow COTI to activate ERC20 tokens in the Bancor Network, and thus, to provide continuous liquidity between COTI coin and various of ERC20 tokens; A Technology Partnership with MicroMoney in order to Enhance their Financial Services; And a financial partnership with Processing.com, which according to COTI’s CEO, will streamline their go-to-market strategy.

8. Roadmap

COTI has recently updated their RoadMap and will launch an Alpha net during Q3 2018.The Alpha Net will be performed by 10 Nodes, and it will be consisted of the following: Charge-Back mechanism, Buyer-Seller Protection, a few merchants, wallet (Beta), and mediation system (Beta).The Test net is expected to be launched during Q4 2018, and the Main net during Q2 2019.9.

9. Conclusion Pros and cons

Pros

Comprehensive Decentralized Payment Solution: COTI was developed exclusively to satisfy daily consumer payments use case, and it indeed, provides a thorough solution that addresses properly the market need and solves concurrently the major concerns of consumers and merchants. Aside from the “regular” benefits in terms of scalability, decentralization, security and low fees, COTI also provides an additional trust layer, hedging services (to address the volatility), and an integration with a native wallet and native currency exchange that provides a convenient easy-to-use solution.

Project potential: The project’s targeted market is the online payment industry. A huge and growing market. We believe that the advantages of the future COTI payment network are beneficial enough for it to successfully penetrate as a legitimate payment service provider and therefore, to capture a sizeable market share. COTI addresses a tangible market needs that neither of the current payment systems has addressed, and thus, despite the intense competition, the project potential seems high.

Cons

Early stage: COTI is still in its early stages. Though an Alpha Net will be launched soon after the Tokens Sale, for the network to achieve full scalability and usability, a wide adoption of merchants, market makers (for the hedging services), and mediators should be achieved. Such adoption will not occur before the COTI’s Main Net launch, during Q2 2019 (more than a year from the time of writing).

CryptoPotato ICO Evaluation – results

Team & Advisory board:  The COTI team and advisors are comprised of individuals with extensive experience in the payments, cryptography and financial services domains. Score 8.5

Stage of the project: Relatively early. Although an Alpha Net will be launched soon after the token sale, the Test Net will be launched during Q4 2018, and the Main Net only during Q2 2019.  Score 7.5

Project potential: COTI aspires to evolve into a widely-adopted payment service provider. Considering their innovative mechanisms along with its comprehensive solution, we believe that they indeed have the potential to achieve some of their objectives.  Score 8.5

Community and Media: ~20,600 Telegram members, ~11,900 Twitter followers, 6,000 Facebook Followers. Score 8.5

Token use:  COTI coin will be used for the network fees as well as to incentivize network’s participants to contribute to the network. It’s important to note that COTI’s success doesn’t depend on COTI native currency being widely adopted. Score 9

ICO: Hard Cap – ~30 M USD with 10 M USD already raised via the private sale. The bonuses during the private and pre-ICO rounds are reasonable. Half of the tokens sold during these rounds are subject to lock-up mechanism. Score 8

Whitepaper: Very detailed whitepaper. Clearly represent the need, the problem and the solution. The white paper also provides very detailed numeric examples. Aside from the White Paper, COTI also published a detailed technical White Paper and Token Economy Summary paper. Score 9.5

Backend and Technology: The Cluster, multi-currency wallet, currency Exchange, innovative trust score engine as well as mediation system. Score 9

CryptoPotato COTI ICO score: 8.4/10

                                                                 
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While delegated proof-of-stake is gaining spread over the industry, non-leader-based consensus could potentially solve massive issues in the field and give a decent fight.

The blockchain industry has offered several mechanisms to achieve consensus. Proof-of-work was the first one to be introduced by Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto. In the payments realm, it is quite clear there is a counterproductive incentive structure between the need to compensate those who build the blocks (miners, stakeholders etc.), and the need for users willing to transact information in systems with inherently low scalability. Adding the electricity waste and the monopolies on mining control, one can comprehend the growth in the use of proof-of-stake mechanisms.

The downside in consensus mechanisms relying on economic capability is that they can be controlled by the few. For instance, the economy-based consensus splits the population into individuals with extra coins and participants without coins. Furthermore, economic mechanisms don’t really reflect the partaker’s stake. As an example, what happens when two people stake the same amount, but for the first, it’s a 70% worth of stake and for only 10% for the second participant? Such system doesn’t really create staking scale which should reflect the level of trust in the system.

The current innovation in the field is the proof-of-authority algorithm, which tries to solve this very issue by staking not only the balance but participant’s reputation as well. Such method creates a system of private forked blockchains of permissioned identities to create the blocks. In order to continue to be trusted by the network and create the blocks, the participants put their reputation at stake.

Regardless of model classification (proof-of-work or any kind of proof-of-stake), consensus types related to computational work and economic proofs have mainly relied on network leaders. In some extent, the creation of off-chain transactions can sometimes be seen as a peer-to-peer understanding of mutual data flow creation and by that as a non-leader formation of trust, yet the finalized data will also be achieved by leaders when reaching into the blockchain’s ledger.

Why the buzz on Hashgraph?

One of the most interesting projects which recently announced its public blockchain is Hedera Hashgraph. Probably, the most interesting part of it is that it claims to offer a fully decentralized network of nodes, which have no leader at all. All nodes come to an agreement on a certain matter by using two protocols — gossip about gossip, and virtual voting. In short, gossip about gossip lets all network participants know what everybody else knows, so at an exponential rate, everyone is aware of all data in the network. This allows for a case when a node crashes; it can immediately restore all data by just connecting again to the network. The second protocol — virtual voting — allows for an efficient consensus reaching — because everyone knows what everyone knows, there is no need to send, collect and decide on a voting result, but rather each participant can decide the consensus because it knows what others will vote.

From Hedera Hashgraph whitepaper

Hedera Hashgraph announced their public ledger, and a token to come in soon. This could potentially be a revolutionary change in the industry which is still open to new types of consensus methodologies. It is still unclear whether Hedera Hashgraph will be able to deliver its promises, in terms of transaction-per-second throughput and fairness in large amounts of nodes over the net. However, the company does seem serious in its SDK demos and the ease of developing on top of it. Yet, Hashgraph is relevant in cases where common truth is needed between all parties at all time. Public auctions and the exact selling price of stocks are a few use-cases in this matter, but a question arises whether Hashgraph or any other form of non-leader consensus could be relevant for payments system. In cases of disputes between different parties who previously interacted in crypto exchanging, it is crucial to include several leaders to achieve a coherent truth about which side is right. This, of course, relates to the regulation compliant payments solutions out there, and please leave aside those with the need for anonymous use.

This is why COTI has developed a Mediation layer just for that. COTI recognized the need for human touch in these types of cases where merchants or consumers just don’t act accordingly and fail to transact their good. Therefore, combining the use of proof-of-stake into the world of dispute resolution made by men, COTI achieves an ability which is currently absent in the crypto world. Using the wisdom of the crowd techniques, COTI wants to take the arbitration process currently done by Visa and MasterCard and to make it much more efficient. In the end, this will shorten the arbitration times of disputes and by that, benefit with both the buyers and merchants.

COTI’s Mediation Process

To conclude this, it would be interesting to see whether Hashgraph will penetrate the market and pose some threat to Ethereum’s platform, or will the non-leaders use cases won’t grow high beyond public auctions and stock prices consensus. Moreover, it would be fascinating to see how would the use of non-leaders consensus be implemented in payment systems, as a line of trusted members seems, at least for now, pretty much inevitable.

                                                                 
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[Bitcoin Press Release:]

Bitcoin Press Release: So far in 2018, the cryptocurrency bears have the upper hand. Major digital currencies like bitcoin have failed to impress investors like they did last year, and the December 2017 highs seem like a pipedream. In fact, some have gone so far as to say that the bitcoin bubble has burst. This brings up a very important question–what’s in store for the future of cryptocurrencies?

One ongoing industry trend is the threat of regulation. In Asia, for example, China has continued its regulatory crackdown. Bloomberg recently reported that China is “targeting platforms that allow the nation’s investors to trade digital assets on overseas exchanges, people familiar with the matter said.” This comes on the heels of other regulatory measures, and represents the Chinese government’s desire to “to cut off one of the few remaining avenues for Chinese citizens to buy digital assets.”

South Korea, another country known for its tougher stance on cryptocurrencies, is still largely undecided on how to implement its goal of “foster[ing] transparency in cryptocurrency trading, with regulators monitoring any illegal activity.” In some ways, however, the future doesn’t look too bright, as many South Korean millennials have been hurt badly by cryptocurrency trading. It is causing depression among some according to Garrick Hileman at the University of Cambridge, while other South Koreans are “losing motivation to go to work.” This is because “they are watching their peers make 10 times what they’re making in their day jobs just by speculating on cryptocurrencies.”

At the same time, though, the deflating of the bitcoin bubble might not be all bad. In South Korea, for example, citizens will be able to pay using cryptocurrencies in over 6,000 stores. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, San Francisco based Coinbase recently released a service that lets merchants take Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, and Litecoin payments. Ironically enough, the decrease in cryptocurrency speculation and increase in regulation is driving the industry more towards the original purpose of bitcoin–a means of making anonymous, decentralized peer-to-peer payments. In this ever changing environment, it appears as if the payment method route is the way to go.

The Need for Speed and Trust in Asia

In the Asian blockchain market in particular, there is a need for both increased speed and greater trust. Speed is essential because it’s what keeps Asian businesses interested in crypto payments. If a business owner can use an existing method that is faster than a blockchain based payment system, why use the blockchain at all? Additionally, existing crypto payment alternatives suffer from a lack of trust. The lack of transparency and traceability are two of the main reasons why Asian regulators have cracked down on cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies so severely. Blockchain startups need to focus on providing quick transaction times without compromising trust compliance.

One blockchain company, COTI, is developing a decentralized currency of the internet, with the goal of streamlining the world’s ecommerce network. The platform facilitates peer-to-peer B2B, B2C, and C2C payments while at the same time addressing two major blockchain issues–network speed and a lack of trust.

The platform will be able to process up to 10,000 transactions per second, keeping it competitive with traditional payment platforms like PayPal or Visa while at the same time outclassing its blockchain competitors. To address the trust issue, COTI utilizes an internal Trust Scoring Engine that uses both quantitative and qualitative data to assign each party an objective “trust score”. Thus platform users will be able to gauge the overall trustworthiness of the counterparty and still maintain a level of security and anonymity. The Trust Scoring Engine also plays an essential role in keeping transaction costs low–those with higher trust scores are subject to lower fees, and vice versa. The COTI platform is ideal for global e-commerce and international payments, because it addresses two major concerns that are typically associated with crypto cross-border payments–security and speed.

Other companies are focusing on incorporating blockchain technology into existing payment methods. One example, Graft, is a global, blockchain powered, decentralized payment gateway that accepts traditional payment systems–like credit, debit, and prepaid cards–in addition to cryptocurrencies. It allows merchants to easily take any payment method at the point of sale and is ideally suited for retail settings. The company is in the process of integrating with traditional payment terminals like card readers, making the implementation process easy for pop-up shops and stores.

Still other companies like the Request Network are working on systems that automate accounting operations such as accounts payable and payroll. In essence, their global blockchain platform lets users request payments directly from payees, thereby removing third parties like banks and credit card companies. The system gives users a level of flexibility as well, because sellers can modify invoices or issue credits and discounts. In theory, companies can perform key accounting functions in real time, which cuts costs and improves operational efficiency.

                                                                 
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[About:]

We recently sat down with Eli Hallufgil, COTI’s research engineer and software engineer technology team leader, to discuss everything related to the Cluster, COTI’s DAG-based consensus mechanism. Eli takes us through a detailed demo of the underworkings of the DAG in real time, explaining how transactions will be confirmed in the COTI network.

Click to Watch the LIVE DAG simulation
Click to view the YouTube video

Eli Hallufgil — COTI’s technology team leader

About:

Eli is a mathematician and engineer who has worked in software development for the past several years. His most recent experience involved developing custom CRM solutions for FinTech companies. He holds a master’s degree in mathematics from the Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology.

The COTI Cluster explained

The Cluster, COTI’s distributed ledger, is based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) data structure consisting of transactions that propagate unidirectionally. While greater scale in blockchain-based networks leads to adverse effects on network usability, in DAG-based networks greater network usage leads to improved network scalability.

This makes the DAG ideally suited for COTI’s network base layer protocol, enabling it to achieve full decentralisation without compromising on COTI’s scalability, instantaneity and low-to-zero fees. Using COTI’s TrustChain™Algorithm, Trust Scores are the key mechanism by which new, unconfirmed transactions select prior transactions to validate in order to reach faster transaction confirmation consensus. To be added to the Cluster, each transaction — represented by the user’s Trust Score — must validate two previous transactions with a similar Trust Score threshold. As transactions are attached to the Cluster, they collectively form Trustchains, or transactional sets characterised by similar Trust Score ranges.

The TrustChain™ ensures that trusted users (i.e. those with higher Trust Scores) are incentivised with optimised transaction confirmations, as their Trustchains can reach the required cumulative Trust Score threshold faster. The implicit nature of the DAG structure and validation process enables the Cluster to reach faster consensus — achieving a transaction confirmation rate of 10,000 TPS — as compared to blockchain systems that can process an average of 20 TPS.

COTI’s DAG simulation

Diving into COTI’s DAG simulation

The COTI simulation is comprised of two demonstrations that depict COTI’s Cluster in 2D and 3D format. Each circle in the simulation represents a transaction in real time, while each color differentiates varying network roles.

✓ Orange transactions are new sources in the Cluster, which have yet to connect to newer transactions.

✓ Blue circles depict transactions that have been validated by the source selection algorithm. In other words, these transactions have already been attached to two previous transactions.

✓ Finally, the black circles are confirmed transactions. Their respective Trustchain has surpassed a predetermined threshold, and the COTI coins can be successfully transferred.

In the 2D simulation, we can see the correlation between a transaction’s Trust Score and confirmation delay. As a Trust Score (Y-axis) increases, more black transactions will accumulate in real time.

Click to Watch the LIVE DAG simulation

COTI’s 2D DAG simulation

In the 3D simulation, we are able to navigate the Cluster by zooming in and clicking on various portions of the simulation. We can also clearly see the Trustchain (illustrated in red) that has approved each transaction.

COTI’s Cluster 3D simulation

What’s coming up for COTI

COTI’s alpha net will be launched earlier than expected. This pre-release will contain functional prototypes of fundamental COTI network components, including up to ten Full Nodes, the Trust Score Server and COTI’s buyer-seller protection system. Essentially, this means that select merchants and consumers can begin accessing the COTI network this upcoming August. You can view our updated roadmap on the COTI website.

                                                                 
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COTI website is now available in a number of languages. We have added Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Spanish language functionality. Our goal is to bring COTI to the whole world, so please let us know if you’d like us to localize our website to your country, and we’ll be sure to keep you on our radar. Visit the website now:
https://goo.gl/ho2qdS

[Key Features of COTI]

Article by Ken Walker



There are a lot many cryptocurrencies available today in the market, however, most of them are majorly used as a store-of-value or for trading purposes with little application in the real-time payment industry. The scalability challenges associated with digital currencies have prevented them from being used for daily transactions.

At the same time, the online commerce across the globe has been growing at an unprecedented rate backed by the technological revolution of mobile and online payment systems. However, the online and mobile payments solutions are inadequate to cater to the demand with a limited market growth that ultimately results in the downgrading of the user and merchant satisfaction.

Moreover, there are multiple issues with the existing payment systems like high processing fees, long settlement periods, the absence of a shared trust mechanism, lack of multi-currency support and much more.

COTI aims to put an end to all these issues by building its own decentralized and scalable payment network which facilitates efficient global commerce. By using the cutting-edge Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) along with the traditional payments systems, COTI aims at promoting the mass adoption of digital currencies.

COTI aims to provide merchants and consumers with a seamless payments experience using its own digital currency – Currency Of The Internet (COTI) – while creating a comprehensive payment system consisting of several key features.

Key Features of COTI

• Using the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), COTI aims to deliver Instantaneous Remittance through a more robust and scalable consensus model based on a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure.
• Trust Scoring Engine: Each network participant will get a unique Trust Score by assessing the interaction between buyers and sellers. The Trust Score is used to assign the network fees which also determines the contribution by each participant in the COTI network. This way, it removes the dependence of rating on a single centralized marketplace.
• Currency Exchange Integration: This will allow network participants to seamlessly exchange between different currencies – fiat or cryptos. This will be made possible by aggregating liquidity from the external or internal liquidity pools. The exchange will be completed by an automated market maker that keeps fair and orderly market among the range of currencies.
• Mediation System: This helps to maintain the integrity of the COTI network by solving any disputes between the transacting parties. In order to resolve all the disputes fairly and efficiently, the COTI system makes use of data science, game theory and an independent network of crowdsourced mediators.
• COTI is also developing a variety of services and applications in order to establish a seamless connectivity between the participants of the network. For e.g. the COTI wallet and debit card will allow secure storage, transmission and exchange of fiat and digital currencies. The COTI’s processing solutions will look after transferring/accepting payments across different currencies while keeping the processing costs substantially low.

More details on the business can be viewed in the whitepaper.

The COTI Team

The COTI team comprises of a list of veterans who have diverse experience across multiple fields of asset management, cryptography, payment and banking industry. Its advisory team consists of people having worked in prestigious financial institutions like BlackRock, HSBC, Invested Bank, Processing.com and Markets.com.The COTI team is all set to launch the first phase of the COTI network by the fourth quarter of 2018.

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

                                                                 
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If you could build a cryptocurrency from zero, what would be your priorities and preferences?

                                                                 
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[An Israeli business is looking to create the Currency Of The Internet.]

An Israeli business is looking to create the Currency Of The Internet.

Aside from a few very niche communities, cryptocurrencies have still not quite made it as a conventional or popular means of payment. However a partnership between a cryptocurrency processor, COTI, and a merchant payment platform might be a big step towards finally using cryptocurrencies to buy a cup of coffee.

Meet COTI – Currency Of The Internet – a Tel Aviv-based company that announced on Thursday it had signed an official partnership with Processing.com, a platform currently used by thousands of merchants around the world to process their payments.

The partnership will mean that merchants who use Processing.com will accept COTI coins – yet to be traded – as payment for their goods and services.

Like Visa, Amex or Mastercard, COTI plans to become another option on the payments page of merchants’ websites.

Speaking to Crypto Briefing, COTI’s CEO, Shahaf Bar-Geffen, said the platform had over 300 merchants – ranging from furniture manufacturers to software developers – sign up for the platform when it originally opened registration.

He attributed the high-levels of interest to the fact that COTI wanted to make online payments faster and cheaper for both parties.

COTI plans to use its own coin – also called COTI – that can then be used for transactions on the platform. If all goes according to plan, Bar-Geffen hopes an ICO to go ahead sometime in June, with the first real-world transaction taking place sometime in August.

As well as integration with platforms, COTI also has plans to launch a wallet, debit card and exchange, where users can exchange fiat, or other cryptos, for COTI tokens.

Bar-Geffen argues that cryptocurrency payments, which can directly link customers to merchants, could cut through the current inefficiencies experienced in the world of online transactions.

“This is a $2trn problem,” he said. “Currently payments have to go through multiple mediators who all collect a fee…but they don’t add any value to the process”.

Rather than overhaul it, Bar-Geffen said that the aim of COTI is to integrate with the current payment structure: “Our aim isn’t to disrupt current structures, but rather to incorporate the benefits of crypto payment systems into traditional ones.”

The co-founder of Processing.com, Avi Chesed, also said: “Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will inevitably filter through into mainstream markets. As a large-scale payments provider, it is important that Processing.com helps facilitate this progression and provide users with the best possible experience.”

Today’s announcement highlights highlights that the days of cryptocurrency as a speculative security asset might well be numbered.

COTI’s plan is to bridge the gap between ordinary payment systems and blockchain technology but there are already other platforms hard at work developing similar payment applications for cryptocurrencies.

Over the past two weeks, the Litecoin Foundation has formed official partnerships with Singapore’s TenX as well as Aliant Payments, which it says will make Litecoin (LTC), a real-world currency that can even be used on debit cards.

Similarly, new kid on the block PaxPay has proposed giving users a bracelet that will enable them to pay for goods and services in the real world.

The competition for COTI is already stiff and by the looks of things, will only get stiffer. The platform’s success hinges on being able to convince enough merchants that cryptocurrency, and more specifically COTI, will be the faster – and cheaper – alternative.

If it does, mass adoption (and a medium latte) is but a step away.

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

                                                                 
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[COTI has partnered exclusively with Processing.com, allowing merchants on the Processing.com platform to accept COTI coin as a means of payment.]

COTI has partnered exclusively with Processing.com, allowing merchants on the Processing.com platform to accept COTI coin as a means of payment.

COTI is the first and only native cryptocurrency on the Processing.com platform and this integration marks a significant step toward the adoption of cryptocurrency as a viable day-to-day method of payment. COTI is also onboarding users onto its system through carefully-crafted merchant accounts, and any approved merchant will receive $1000 worth of COTI coins.

Processing.com is a leading payments solution provider in the e-commerce space, facilitating online payments in multiple currencies across the globe. Until now, all currencies used were of the traditional fiat form. Processing.com manages a community of tens of thousands of merchants and oversees transactions worth billions of dollars annually.

COTI will also launch a full payments ecosystem, consisting of the COTI coin, a wallet, a debit card and a currency exchange. Those holding merchant accounts will have access to all these applications, as well as $1000 worth of COTI coins in their wallet to start.

Using cutting edge DAG (directed acyclic graphs) structures, COTI has advanced the frontiers of blockchain and developed a base protocol, known as the Trustchain™. This new protocol, with its ability to process 10,000 transactions per second, is leading the way in the development of blockchain technology and its incorporation in the real world.

Unlike many crypto-related companies, COTI reconciles the best of traditional payment systems – scale, buyer-seller protections, ease of use – with the best of cryptocurrency mechanisms (low fees and decentralization). By bringing this much-needed reconciliation into the well-established infrastructure of payments that Processing.com provides, COTI is making a key step towards bridging the gap between ordinary systems and the fast growing blockchain tech space.

Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO of COTI, commented:

“Our partnership with Processing.com marks a significant development in the real-world adoption of blockchain and crypto solutions, making them more accessible to the public. The acceptance of COTI by merchants on the Processing.com platform, which has tens of thousands of users, is testament to the appetite for introducing cryptocurrency into mainstream markets. Our aim isn’t to disrupt current structures, but rather to incorporate the benefits of crypto payment systems into traditional ones. The partnership with Processing.com is a key step towards achieving this objective.”

Avi Chesed, Co-Founder of Processing.com, commented:

“We are pleased to partner with COTI, a truly innovative and fast-growing tech company. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology will inevitably filter through into mainstream markets. As a large-scale payments provider, it is important that Processing.com helps facilitate this progression and provide users with the best possible experience.”

COTI also recently announced its integration with Bancor, which will serve to reduce the persistent problem of crypto volatility, allowing COTI to function as a currency of everyday conversions. As a result, holders of COTI will be able to utilise a fast and secure decentralized exchange.

For further information, visit COTI and Processing.com or read COTI’s whitepaper here.

                                                                 
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[COTI merchants]

COTI is pushing the envelope in terms of solving the payments challenges of today. It is a currency and a payment platform that is simple, transparent, trustworthy, instant and scalable. At COTI, we’ve developed a suite of applications and services that will maximize your potential whether you’re a user, merchant or mediator. Read on below to see what COTI can do for you.

COTI merchants

Merchants around the world face a number of shortcomings that impact their bottom line, such as low approval rates, increasing cart abandonment rates, rampant chargebacks, rising transaction fees and high rolling reserve requirements. Many of these issues can be attributed to outdated payment systems and the need for up to 6-8 middlemen to validate a single transaction.



Secure your place as an online merchant

COTI takes out the middleman, which translates into low-to-zero processing fees for merchants, significantly lower rolling reserve requirements, buyer-seller protections and high approval rates. The COTI payment system integrates seamlessly with major e-commerce websites (e.g. Shopify and Magento) to provide a streamlined user experience and checkout process.

Our recent partnership with Processing.com, will grant us access to thousands of merchants around the world by offering true value. Our merchant acquiring strategy is predicated upon providing the best possible solutions for merchants that need us the most across industries that face processing issues like travel, pharma, global e-commerce and more.

Merchants that reserve a COTI account will receive 10,000 free COTI coins (a value of $1,000) as part of our early bird sign-up package. Registration details can be found in the merchant section of the COTI website.



COTI wallet holders

E-commerce and mobile payments around the world are on the rise, but users still face numerous downfalls common in traditional payment systems and digital currencies. Common issues include long remittance periods for bank wires and high transaction fees for peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions and wire transfers. False positives are also quite common as buyers are flagged on the suspicion of fraud when a transaction is realistically legitimate.

To compound the issue, many local payment methods are unavailable to consumers around the globe, leading to high fees that are paid to third party financial intermediaries responsible for authorizing, clearing and settling digital payments. There is also little recourse for the underbanked population, which amounts to two billion people around the world without access to financial services.

COTI’s answer to such shortcomings is a decentralized payments system consisting of the COTI coin, wallet, exchange and debit card. With low-to-zero fees, full buyer-seller protections, a robust Trust Scoring Engine and decentralised Mediation System, COTI combines the best of traditional payment methods with the best of digital currencies.

Users that sign up for a COTI wallet will receive 100 free COTI coins, which can be used online to pay for a number of products and services. For registration details, be sure to visit our website.


Sign up for a COTI wallet

COTI mediators

One of COTI’s standout features is its Mediation System, which offers buyer-seller protections for all network users. Typical scenarios that require mediation include billing errors, inadvertent transfers, unauthorized charges, undelivered or non-conforming goods and services.

By becoming a COTI mediator, you will receive:
✓ Rewards in COTI’s native currency, which can be spent on online shopping
✓ Improved Trust Scores
✓ The satisfaction of helping other users with dispute resolution

To find out how to become a COTI mediator, please visit our website to register your interest.

COTI endeavours to make mediation open to a broad group of people and will make available online training programs that can assist candidates in acquiring the requisite knowledge for contributing to the dispute resolution process effectively.


Become a COTI mediator

In other exciting news, the COTI website is now available in a number of languages. We have added Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Spanish language functionality. Our goal is to bring COTI to the whole world, so please let us know if you’d like us to localize our website to your country, and we’ll be sure to keep you on our radar.

                                                                 
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We are proud to finally give you the chance to sign up to receive FREE COTI coins for being early project supporters! Sign up for a COTI wallet and receive 100 free COTI tokens.

Register now: https://goo.gl/fC3eWW



                                                                 
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[Dr. Matt McBrady]

The COTI leadership team is comprised of individuals with extensive experience in the payments, cryptography and financial services domains and is supported by an internationally recognized group of advisers. The team and its advisers have gained senior experience at leading institutions including Processing.com, PAY.COM, Investec Bank, BlackRock, HSBC, UBS, Bain Capital, Ripple Labs, The Wharton School and the U.S. Department of Treasury.



Dr. Matt McBrady



Former CIO & MD of BlackRock

Matthew was the Chief Investment Officer for the Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund Platform at BlackRock. He has held senior roles at Silver Creek Capital and at Bain Capital, was a professor of finance at the Darden School and Wharton, and worked with Janet Yellen in President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors. Matthew holds a Ph.D in Business Economics from Harvard University.

Steven Heilbron



Former CEO of Investec Bank UK

Steven is the Joint CEO of Cash Connect, an automated cash handling business that he acquired as part of a consortium in 2013. Steven has an extensive background in finance, having previously served as the Global Head of Private Banking and Joint CEO of Investec Bank in London. Steven is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and holds degrees in commerce and accounting from the University of Cape Town.

Greg Kidd



Former CRO, Ripple Labs

Greg is the co-founder of Hard Yaka and an early investor in numerous startups in the exchange space including Ripple, where he served as CRO, Shift, Coinbase and 3taps, and previously Square and Twitter. Earlier in his career he served as a senior analyst for payments at The Board of Governor of the Federal Reserve. Greg holds an MBA from Yale University and MPA from Harvard University.

Avi Chesed



CEO and Co-Founder of Processing.com

Avi is the Co-Founder & CEO of Processing.com, and the Chair of the Board of Directors of Transact Europe Holdings OOD. A payments industry veteran, before co-founding Processing.com, Avi founded several successful payments-related companies and has become a leading figure in the space. Avi holds a Business Administration Degree from the University of Southern California.

Sebastian Stupurac



Blockchain Expert

Co-Founder of WINGS, a successful community engagement and smart contract facilitation platform, one of the few working DAPPS on the Ethereum blockchain. Sebastian gained vast experience in decentralized solutions and blockchain technology since 2013.

Stas Oskin



Blockchain Expert

Leads the technology strategy and partnerships effort for WINGS Foundation, a Swiss non-profit focused on decentralized finance and governance systems. Stas has over 15 years of extensive experience in engineering, development and management of software, cloud services, healthcare, video streaming, blockchain and social.

Ophir Gertner



Blockchain Expert

An entrepreneur at heart, Ophir has a strong track record of developing market-leading products, including Stox.com blockchain prediction, and invest.com which he co-founded. Chosen as one of the top Blockchain influencers in Israel, Ophir is renowned in the Blockchain industry and considered as one of the most sought after advisers for decentralized projects.

Jon Avganim



Co-Founder and President of Processing.com

Jon is the Co-Founder and President of Processing.com, and an Executive Director of Transact Europe Holdings OOD. Prior to co-founding Processing.com, Jon founded and led several successful ventures in the international distribution and finance domains.

Theofanis Alexoudas



Risk Management Advisor

Risk management expert with extensive experience in the areas of market risk, risk governance and regulatory risk management requirements. He started his career at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in London and most recently has served as the Chief Risk Officer of Safecap Investments. Theofanis holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of London.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay



Partner at Barnea & Co

An expert in financial regulation and securities law, Zvi is a partner and the Head of Capital Markets at Barnea & Co. Zvi previously served as the Head of Enforcement of the Israel Securities Authority and as a lawyer in the New York office of Skadden. Zvi holds JSD and LLM degrees from Columbia University, an LLM degree from Bar-Ilan University, and an LL.B degree from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.

Prof. Martin Fochmann



Professor at University of Cologne

Martin is Professor for Behavioral Accounting, Taxation and Finance at the University of Cologne and CEO of the German Association for Experimental Economic Research. Martin taught business and finance courses at several universities — including University of Cologne, University of Hannover and EBS University. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of Würzburg and won several prizes for his research.

Sean Melnick



Chairman of Peregrine Group

Sean is the founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Peregrine Group, an international financial services group listed on the JSE. Prior to co-founding Peregrine in 1996 and serving as the group CEO for a cumulative 11 years, Sean worked at Investec Bank and at Liberty Asset Management (Stanlib). Sean holds an Honors degree in Commerce from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Dr. Stephan Wessel



CEO of Arcana Capital

Stephan is the founding partner of Arcana Capital, an independent multi-family office advising its clients with respect to private equity strategies. Stephan’s previous roles include leading the private equity efforts at two substantial European single family offices. Stephan began his career at UBS Investment Bank working in their M&A division. He holds a B.Sc., a LL.M. and Ph.D. in business (summa cum laude).

Dr. Stefan Hlawatsh



CEO at Skybridge Investment

Stefan is the CEO of Skybridge Investment and an Associate Professor at ISM International School of Management, Hamburg. Stefan previously worked in Specialist Asset Allocation for Berenberg Bank and Consilisto Berenberg Privat-Treuhand, and as a Client Advisor at UBS. He received his doctoral degree (magna cum laude) and a business administration degree (honors) from Otto-von-Guericke University.

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 e-mail. We will be providing further updates in the near future.

                                                                 
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[Why was the COTI Mediation System created?]

COTI’s vision is to build a decentralized and scalable payments network, bringing innovative technology to the payments industry. We would like to give our community members the first chance to become a COTI mediator and help to solve disputes.

We listed below some questions and answers for those who are interested in becoming our mediators and not sure how to start.



Why was the COTI Mediation System created?

The COTI mediation system provides buyers and sellers with protection against errors, fraud and counter-party abuse. One of the greatest barriers in e-commerce is the lack of trust between parties that do not know each other and may never transact again. What’s more, buyer-seller protections are absent in the cryptocurrency sphere, which has prevented the mass adoption of digital currencies.

How do other digital currencies deal with transaction disputes?

In the current climate of digital currencies, buyers and sellers transacting with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will have to independently work out differences, if any, that arise between them.

Why are mediation services provided by credit cards and peer-to-peer (P2P) companies like PayPal so expensive?

Credit card companies and PayPal use third party dispute resolution organizations (DROs) to handle complaints between transacting parties. There can be 6–8 middlemen per transaction, each taking their cut and driving up costs in the process.



How does the Mediation System work?

COTI’s approach to mediation involves harnessing a decentralised and distributed group of independent mediators to resolve disputes. Mediators work independently to validate real world information pertaining to transaction disputes and then cast votes on a mediated outcome.
Mediators receive caseloads and cast their votes using the mediator application.

After mediators’ votes have been cast, they are assessed using a voting matrix that determines consensus automatically. Once a mediated outcome has been arbitrated by a quorum of mediators, the system compensates the winning party and returns that party’s balance to its rightful state.

Who can apply as a mediator?

To be approved as a COTI mediator, you must:

• Be at least 18 years of age
• Have a clean criminal background with no previous convictions
• Consent to the COTI privacy policy
• Submit identity verification documents
• Undergo an online assessment to determine that you have the aptitude to perform the mediation tasks at a high standard.
• Be a member of the COTI network (e.g., COTI wallet holder or COTI token holder)
• Demonstrate basic English language proficiency

What types of situations require mediation?

• Billing errors. The buyer completes a purchase, but later realises that the amount paid for the goods or services was incorrect.
• Inadvertent transfers. The user inadvertently sends funds to the wrong party.
• Unauthorised charges. The user is charged an amount without having authorised the transaction.
• Undelivered goods or services. The buyer pays a merchant for goods or services but the delivery of those goods or services is not fulfilled.
• Non-conforming goods or services. The buyer pays for and receives the goods or services, but the goods or services do not conform with the description or standards the seller conveyed at the time of the purchase.

What incentives do mediators receive for their services?

As a COTI mediator you will be paid in COTI tokens for each instance in which you successfully resolve buyer-seller disputes. In the event of effectively contributing to a mediated
outcome, COTI mediators will also be incentivised with higher Trust Scores.

How can mediators access the COTI Mediation System?

The Mediator application enables mediators to accept invitations to receive and review caseload data, to place wagers, and, in the event of successfully contributing to a mediated outcome, to receive payouts in COTI.



Is there collusion risk between mediators in the COTI network?

Any risk of collusion is mitigated primarily through the algorithms that determine which mediators are assigned to a specific dispute, whereby caseloads are routed intelligently to mediators who have the least likelihood to collude with one another. If mediators are found to have engaged in any
form of collusion, they will be penalized.

What happens if I’m not approved to be a COTI mediator?

COTI endeavours to make mediation open to a broad group of people and will make available online training programs that can assist candidates in acquiring the requisite knowledge for contributing to the dispute resolution process effectively.

Apply now: https://coti.io/en/mediators.html

Learn all about the COTI Mediation System and what it takes to become a mediator. As always, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to send your questions our way here on Reddit and on our Telegram channel.



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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[Who is a mediator?]

Great news! Finally, You can sign up to be a COTI mediator!  Become a COTI mediator, help solve disputes and be rewarded in COTI’s coins.

Who is a mediator?

To bring about an era of zero friction commerce, the main goal of COTI is to provide the world with a faster, more cost-effective and more reliable way to pay. As an individual, you can help COTI realize this goal by becoming a mediator. Mediators will be compensated in COTI’s native currency for helping with the dispute resolution process. These rewards will be significant, as mediators will play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the COTI network.

How to become one?

Individuals who would like to become mediators will be required to undergo an online assessment that will help determine if they have the aptitude to perform the mediation tasks at a high standard. Among other requirements, mediators will need to demonstrate satisfactory language proficiency.

Apply now: https://coti.io/en/mediators.html



Watch our flagship YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXo7i_gdNR0

You can find more information about COTI in our Business Overview and Technical Whitepaper.


                                                                 
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“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get” — Warren Buffett

It’s been a long time since credit card ruled the roost, and got into our everyday life. People have been shopping and streaming from overseas using a credit card. People have been using credit card increasingly to pay for necessities like gas, electricity, etc. Many will even put their monthly bills on their credit card.

The bad news is using a credit card is expensive. If you’ve ever carried a balance, the hefty interest rate quickly bears evidence of the compounding cost. And credit card interest is only the start of what a credit card can cost you. In fact, many credit cards have fees you’ve probably never heard of.
 
Even when you need a credit card statement you will be charged per copy. Though most companies provide the last six months statement free of charge but after that, it’ll cost you around $2 depending on the card issuer.

Another drawback of credit card is when you buy something in another currency, such as while you’re on vacation in Europe or just shopping online, you’ll pay the currency exchange rate and a currency conversion fee, which tends to be around 2.5 percent per transaction, depending on your credit card issuer. And the worse is that your credit card issuer gets to charge you for converting your money back to your own currency.
 
So for the price that you paid, did you get any value?

We need an infrastructure that provides the benefits of fast, secure, convenient, and inexpensive transactions all around the world. We need to revolutionize the payment industry and ensure that anyone can benefit from instantaneous, transparent and cost-effective transactions, irrespective of where they live and level of education.

COTI is a decentralized payment network utilizing Directed Acyclic Graph, an improved version of current blockchain technology which allows COTI to handle hundreds of millions of transactions per day. That’s a far higher than Bitcoin that can only handle hundreds of thousands transactions per day.

COTI network provides a faster transaction confirmation and very low-to-zero fees for buyers and sellers. COTI is a disruptive technology that will fundamentally change payment as well as many other industries. COTI is an digital currency that uses DAG to transfer funds from buyer to seller or vice versa.

COTI transaction costs should be kept to a bare minimum and levied in accordance with each participant’s individual contribution to the network so as to create a self-sustained and equitable payment system.

In DAG-based systems like COTI, greater network usage leads to improved scalability. This creates a positive correlation between the number of network users and the rate at which transactions are confirmed. Users are incentivised with low-to-zero fees, fast confirmation times and high Trust Scores as a reward for their honest, trustworthy conduct.

The current financial system is very cumbersome to send and receive money. You can send an Whatsapp messages around the world in a second, but transferring money can take days or even weeks to arrive at its destination. Financial intermediaries are required to transfer any sum of money, each of which takes a service charge. These financial middlemen are more often the victims of fraud than the rest of the economy, which results in greater regulation and higher costs for all parties involved. COTI will eliminate the middlemen of any transaction while increasing security, both of which will reduce costs.

COTI Network will revolutionize the entire industry. It is more than just a blockchain, it is a vehicle of change!

                                                                 
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