COTI Foundation Announces New Strategy as Robbie Vander Takes Over Direction
The COTI Foundation is changing its operating strategy as it moves from a development-focused approach toward applications designed to bring privacy into everyday transactions. The foundation announced that the next phase will focus on adoption, purpose-built applications and expanded ways to use and spend the COTI token.
The shift also brings a leadership change. COTI said its current management will step down from directing the foundation, with the ZK Foundation, led by Robbie Vander, taking over its direction. Vander has experience in the Web3 venture sector and will lead the foundation’s business-development focus.
The transition does not mark an end to the work completed under Shahaf Bar-Geffen. COTI said the technology and institutional foundation developed under his leadership provides the base for the next phase, while Bar-Geffen will continue contributing to the project as an advisor.
COTI is also preparing an expanded roadmap that will place greater emphasis on token spending. The foundation said a detailed roadmap update will be published in the coming weeks, meaning the specific products and mechanisms behind the new utility strategy have yet to be fully disclosed.
COTI Targets Private Payments Beyond Trading
The strategic change reflects COTI’s broader move toward privacy infrastructure. COTI V2 is an Ethereum Layer 2 designed around confidential computation, while the network has been developing Privacy-on-Demand and other tools that allow applications to keep selected transaction information private.
Rather than concentrating only on private trading applications, the foundation says it wants privacy to become part of routine payments and financial activity. Its stated model involves companies and merchants joining an ecosystem where existing payment rails can be combined with privacy infrastructure.
Related: COTI Foundation Teases Major COTI 2.0 Rollout After Two Years of Development
That approach would give COTI a different target market from privacy networks focused primarily on cryptocurrency transactions. The foundation specifically highlighted the importance of creating a spendable currency and said its objective is to make private transactions usable through a unified interface.
The strategy could also expand the role of COTI itself within the ecosystem. COTI V2 documentation already identifies the token as part of the network’s economic framework, including transaction fees and other ecosystem functions. The new strategy is now expected to add more practical spending applications around that existing infrastructure.
COTI has already been extending its privacy technology beyond its own network. Its Privacy-on-Demand infrastructure has been positioned for applications across multiple blockchain environments, while private tokens and privacy tools have been developed for business and institutional use cases.
COTI 2.0 Sets the Next Phase
The upcoming COTI 2.0 campaign is scheduled to begin next month under Vander’s direction. COTI has not yet provided the full list of applications or detailed rollout schedule, making the forthcoming roadmap an important source of information for the community.
The foundation has also said it plans to organize an AMA with Vander so users can hear more about the new strategy. That discussion is expected to provide additional context on the leadership transition, business-development priorities and planned token utility.
For COTI holders, the central change is therefore not a new token launch or an immediate technical upgrade. It is a change in how the foundation intends to pursue adoption, with greater emphasis on applications that can give COTI a practical role in payments and other everyday transactions.
The success of the strategy will depend on what products are actually delivered, how many businesses and users adopt them, and whether the additional spending options create sustained demand for COTI. The upcoming roadmap should provide more concrete information on those points.
COTI is consequently entering its next phase with a different operating model and new leadership at the foundation level. The technology developed under the previous leadership remains the foundation, while the ZK Foundation and Robbie Vander are now being tasked with turning that infrastructure into broader privacy applications and real-world utility through the planned COTI 2.0 campaign.
About The Author
