272: Privacy on demand — Shahaf on COTI’s quest to make blockchains confidential

In this episode, COTI Network CEO Shahaf Bar-Geffen joins Sam to unpack why privacy + scalability are the two missing pillars holding crypto back from mass, institutional adoption. Shahaf recounts COTI’s journey from 2017 payment rails to today’s garbled-circuit EVM, explains “privacy on demand” for any chain, and reveals how AI trading agents and a perp DEX called ProX are already running on the stack. Topics include: why transparent ledgers threaten business strategy, how private computation unlocks CBDCs and RWAs, the upcoming node-license sale, and why Shahaf expects a “privacy summer” to rival DeFi Summer. Key Timestamps [00:00:00] Introduction: Sam tees up COTI’s focus on crypto-AI convergence. [00:01:30] Early web3 story: Shahaf’s 2006 “Web3” domain and 2017 ICO insights. [00:03:00] Payment pain points: Why money-over-IP still needs privacy. [00:05:00] Transparent ledgers: How on-chain data exposes business secrets. [00:07:15] COTI’s tech pivot: From L1 payments to garbled-circuit privacy EVM. [00:08:45] ProX Perp DEX: Deep CEX-level liquidity, private orders, AI trading agents. [00:12:30] Builders welcome: Low-/no-code grants and the Stake COTI initiative. [00:16:00] Privacy on demand: Plug-in modules for Solana, Ethereum, Sui, more. [00:18:45] AI + private data: Federated learning without sharing datasets. [00:21:15] Roadmap: Earn-Create-Build platform, node-license sale, CBDC pilots. [00:24:30] The coming privacy summer: Why investors should watch the narrative. [00:27:00] Call to action: How listeners can earn, build, and join the ecosystem. Connect https://coti.io/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/coti-ltd/ https://x.com/shahafbg https://il.linkedin.com/in/shahafbg Disclaimer Nothing mentioned in this podcast is investment advice and please do your own research. Finally, it would mean a lot if you can leave a review of this podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share this podcast with a friend. Be a guest on the podcast or contact us - https://www.web3pod.xyz/