1) What problem are you solving and why do you need blockchain technology?
The payments industry has been monopolised by Mastercard and Visa for the past 40 years. Such traditional payment systems, however, face a number of shortcomings. Each transaction goes through a number of mediators who collect their respective fees. They are the primary cause for declined transactions, which drives down revenue and profits for merchants while turning away well meaning customers. There is also little accountability for the underbanked population, which amounts to two billion people around the world without access to financial services and banks.
On the other end of the spectrum, digital currencies like Bitcoin and others have faced severe network congestion, giving rise to scalability issues, higher fees and slower settlement times. These issues are compounded by a complicated user experience, lack of buyer-seller protections and volatile prices, which deem cryptocurrencies unfit for everyday payment use cases.
We’ve departed from blockchain technology in favor of a more robust solution in the form of a DAG-based consensus. With our approach, greater network usability leads to faster transaction confirmations, which is a significant gauge of scalability.
2) What are the main pillars that define your company and differentiate you from competitors?
- Our DAG-based base protocol, which we’ve dubbed the TrustchainTM, is highly scalable. The COTI network can handle 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), as compared to Bitcoin’s 20 TPS average, for example.
- The COTI payments network offers a simple user experience for consumers and merchants alike through user-friendly applications. This takes away the complicated learning curve of many digital currencies.
- Instantaneous remittance as compared to slow cryptocurrency transactions that can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 16 hours. Rolling reserve requirements of major credit card companies also hamper instantaneity by withholding funds from merchants for a specified period of time.
- A decentralised Mediation System that provides buyer-seller protections in the event of transaction disputes.
- Users of the COTI network pay variable fees depending on their risk profiles, with highly-trusted users paying low-to-zero fees and users with higher risk profiles paying higher fees.
- We will be providing merchants with hedging services that will help them to reduce or eliminate their exposure to near-term currency fluctuations.
- COTI is working in accordance with regulatory guidelines and global licencing standards, such as the distributed ledger technology (DLT) regulations set forth by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission (GFSC).
3) Why did you decide to launch an ICO and why do you need a public token sale?
Our token sale will enable us to fund the development, launch and growth of the COTI decentralized network. This token sale will be open to both institutional and individual contributors who would like the opportunity to participate in the COTI project. You can find more information about our token economy on our website.
4) How does your token function within the platform and why is it needed?
The primary function of COTI coins is to serve as the common denominator of payments, fees and mediation and to incentivise node operators in the COTI network.
5) How did you decide the total supply and distribution among stakeholders?
Our team consists of professionals with vast experience in the entrepreneurial sphere, more specifically in the payments industry, banking and asset management. We set out to find the best possible outcome for the network by consulting with our board of advisors and founding partners, as well as legal experts in the field.
6) Where do you see the value of your token in the medium to long term?
Our first use case for our TrustchainTM base protocol will be the payments industry, but it has many applications beyond this. Our vision is to venture into numerous other domains where trust, mediation and scale are needed, such as the insurance industry and pharma.
7) What is the ultimate benefit of COTI for token holders?
A scalable and robust payment platform that is easy to use with buyer-seller protections and low-to-zero fees.
8) Do you believe that the volatility of the cryptocurrency market might affect the economy of your project in any way?
At COTI we’ve not only built a digital currency, but an entire digital payment ecosystem that is meant to be used for everyday use cases. While Bitcoin has transformed into a store of value with high volatility, COTI was designed with utility in mind for a frictionless payments and e-commerce experience.
9) What are your plans following the ICO?
We’re looking to release the prototypes of our consumer wallet, nodes and Trust Score Server. We’ll also be launching the test net.
What is Crypto Unveil?
Crypto Unveil is a not for profit project aimed at providing and sharing free educational and informed content on the blockchain and crypto world.
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Disclaimer: This interview and the information contained herein is not intended to be a source of investment, financial, technical, tax, or legal advice. This interview cannot substitute for professional advice and independent factual verification.
