A recap of last week live Telegram session with COTI’s CEO Shahaf Bar-Gefen
Last Thursday we had the first live Telegram session with Shahaf Bar-Gefen, COTI’s CEO. The community asked, and Shahaf answered.
- What makes your skill set a good fit for COTI? Considering your background is in marketing, are you trying to build a payment marketplace?
In my previous career, I was an officer ranked Major, which gave me a strong managerial skill set, especially under pressure. In the past 15 years, I have been an entrepreneur and have co-founded 5 companies. As such, one doesn’t get the luxury of “just being in marketing.” As an entrepreneur, you need to be able to build a company from the ground up, and this is what we are doing at COTI. I have a very strong team with expertise in payments and I believe this will bring about a great deal of success.
- Can you tell us how you got involved in COTI?
I had been leading WEB3, an online marketing group, and COTI was using our services. I was involved with the COTI project for a few months when I was approached to take the helm as CEO.
- How do you spend your day? How do you manager your time when you are currently involved in two other companies?
I have joined COTI on a full-time basis. My co-CEO at WEB3, Shai Beres, now heads up the company. I am devoted to COTI like any parent would be to a new baby.
- How much of the $60m has already been raised? Is the $60m the hard cap, or can the value increase to $120m? Why $60m when most ICOs aim to raise $15m?
$60m is indeed our hard cap and we don’t plan on raising any more than that. The private sale is still on, and I can’t comment yet on how many tokens have already been sold. I’m happy to say it is going better than we expected.
I can also tell you that although we can sell everything to private investors, we won’t and will be leaving enough tokens for community participation.
- Can the CEO explain the recent team changes a bit more, especially the CEO change?
Our Tel-Aviv R&D center has researched the use of the DAG structure for payments. When it became clear that it was the right technology for us to use, we decided to begin building a Dev team in Tel Aviv. There’s a fantastic pool of tech talent here that we can tap into. As COTI is mostly a tech company, it makes sense that the CEO will be around the tech team too. The former CEO, Nir Gazit, was recruited early on as CEO, but he is not one of the founders. Because the project strategy evolved to focus more on the base layer protocol, and the technology team was transitioning from Canada to Israel where there is a broader pool of DAG specialists, it was agreed that Nir would not continue with the project.
- Why did you choose DAG over blockchain?
The DAG structure is instant, scalable, secure and will pave the way for a payments system with low-to-zero fees. It’s a much better data structure for payments overall. You’ll see more in our upcoming white paper.
- Have you thought about how regulation is going to affect your model?
We have a very strong in-house team with regards to compliance and regulation. We are one of only four companies to have received a DLT license in Gibraltar and regulation will be on our side as we have built COTI to be regulation ready.
Generally speaking, digital currency-related activity is predominantly unregulated, except in Luxembourg, Gibraltar, Japan and the US. Digital currencies are also not recognized by central banks as legal tender, and most governments do not classify digital currencies as securities offerings.
- Is there any concern about DAG given that it’s less established than blockchain?
We are at the bleeding edge with DAG, no doubt. However, our research and simulations both show that a DAG-based payment network is definitely scalable. We are going where no man has gone before, and it’s exciting.
- Do you have an estimated date for when the COTI platform will be up and running? When will your MVP be ready?
I’m afraid I can’t give you specific dates yet for that. However, some products from our network will be released in the first half of 2018, which is pretty exciting!
- Do you have anything in alpha testing? How far along are you in development?
A few of our engineers have been working for quite a while now. I can tell you that we are already running simulations on our DAG data structure and that we are in the midst of building out two applications. It’s not a walk in the park, but we are pushing through and making progress every day.
- Speed, scalability and accuracy are all attributes in a DAG system, but do you also have a dedicated cybersecurity team?
In addition to our in- house cryptographer, we have employed two cybersecurity firms to help us fortify our network. As we are in Tel Aviv, a cybersecurity powerhouse, we are getting a lot of help with that.
- Who will be able to take part in the COTI ecosystem?
COTI’s exchange and payment platform do not permit exchanges to and from high risk jurisdictions as identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Users located in North Korea, Uganda, Iran, and Syria, among other jurisdictions, are subject to financial embargoes and will not be able to participate in the COTI ecosystem. COTI users will be solely responsible for their own tax obligations. COTI expressly disclaims liability or responsibility concerning users’ tax obligations and encourages network participants to seek independent financial, tax or other advice in their jurisdictions of residence and/or domicile if they are unsure about their tax obligations. Stemming from the Securities Act of 1933 and defined in Regulation D, accredited investors are classified as meeting specific criteria, such as having an annual income of at least $200,000 in each of the past two years ($300,000 for joint income) or a net worth of at least $1 million.
…
And a last word from Shahaf: “With your support, COTI will disrupt the payments industry and change the world!”
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.
