COTI has been selected as a Pioneer Partner in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Digital Euro project, a major step toward developing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the eurozone. As part of this initiative, COTI will join forces with the ECB and other stakeholders to explore innovative technologies that could support a secure and private Digital Euro.
The Digital Euro is envisioned as a digital complement to physical cash, designed to facilitate private and safe payments across the eurozone’s $15 trillion economy. COTI’s selection builds on its past involvement with the Bank of Israel’s Digital Shekel trials, reflecting its growing credibility in the CBDC field.
In this partnership, COTI will test its privacy-focused solution for conditional payments using simulated ECB systems. This technology aims to verify asset origins while safeguarding user privacy—an essential element for any future CBDC.
“Being invited to work with the ECB on such a consequential project is humbling, and a testament to the expertise and hard work of the COTI team,” said Shahaf Bar-Geffen, COTI co-founder and CEO. “Privacy is a vital component for the future of Web3, ensuring user security and organizational compliance, and the same benefits apply to CBDCs. It’s critical that confidentiality is built into the core of these new systems, rather than merely being added as an afterthought.”
COTI previously contributed to Israel’s Digital Shekel Challenge by creating a proof-of-concept for private, trustless cross-border transactions using garbled circuits—technology it will now adapt for the ECB project.
The ECB’s innovation platform brings together a broad mix of financial institutions, banks, fintechs, and experts, with conditional payments as a key focus. COTI plans to keep its community informed as its involvement in the project continues.
