Q&A: Community Questions Answered by Robbie, COTI CEO There's a lot of questions being asked in the group chat. That's a good sign. It shows the COTI community is engaged and active. I've tried to address them in the chat. That ends up consuming significant amounts of time. I'll address them via a cycle of Q&A buckets instead, as that is more efficient. The handover is fresh and there's a lot of attention needed on the work to be done. Initial Clarifications There are posts circulating about wallets connected to the purchase. The purchase of COTI was split into two: the team and a market maker. The wallets are separate. Market Maker The market maker's sole purpose was to provide an enormous amount of liquidity. This is what's required to give COTI its next leg up. At COTI's valuation, that liquidity would place it within the top 3 most liquid privacy tokens. That commitment was misrepresented. The market maker received its allocation on the basis of obligations it then failed to perform. Its position changed without notice and without justification. This was dishonest conduct, in breach of the terms it agreed to, and it was carried out at the expense of the team and of COTI holders. We will pursue legal action to make this right. That process is already underway. Meanwhile, the team's focus stays on Q4 product delivery and the utility of the COTI token. That's paramount. 1. What is ZK Foundation? This is an endeavour I brought up during the process of acquiring COTI. The reason is simple: the vast majority of privacy projects in web3 use ZK technology. COTI's GC technology is superior and our view on this remains firm. The point was to use a more familiar name to partner with industry participants. I understand this has been taken negatively by the community. We will dissolve the branding. Fortunately, it's still an early concept and never took any formal place. It was never intended to replace COTI Foundation. It was an initiative to develop COTI partnerships with other industry participants, and a label for the group of individuals taking over COTI's development. COTI Foundation was maintained throughout. That is the core focus of the work. 2. Distinction between the Foundation and the team As a decentralised network, the Foundation isn't owned. The outgoing management team was charged with development. COTI Foundation was always going to be maintained. A change of hands in the development leadership is all that took place. 3. Who financed the purchase? The team's side is a blend of participants. Part of the funds came from the team taking over. This aligns incentives. Part came from angels in the space. The other side is an East Asia-based market maker and their associate, covered above. 4. Who is the team? The core team is me, Sara (marketing), Lorenzo (operations) and James (technology). A Space with Sara and me is already done. Another with the CTO will be planned. I'll make sure as many team members as possible join a Space so you can get to know them. There's a lot of work right now, and Q4 has to be about product delivery. That's paramount. 5. What about the privacy focus and COTI technology? None of that changes. It is the basis of every product I intend to deliver to the community and to customers. Over the coming days, the tech team will publish a technical roadmap alongside the product roadmap. It will show how the stack is used to bring COTI's privacy products to market in a consumer-friendly way. 6. What are the products? The goal is a single app with multiple functions: A. Funnels. Mainstream, free features that attract traction to the app and convert users into the ecosystem, like the VPN. B. Utility. Functions that use privacy in a way people need every day, such as Send. C. Monetisation. Functions like payments, for example travel, that make privacy not just a feature but a monetisable service. Consumer apps are the key focus of the industry in the years to come. We need to begin that work now to be at the forefront of the shift. 7. What about the previous management team? They're involved as advisors, helping us build on the work they've done over the last 9 years. 8. Where are the results? It has been 1 week. Much of that week went to the avalanche of questions from the community. At minimum, I ask the community to judge on product development in Q4. That is the time for the first, very preliminary, results. 9. Why was COTI sold? This was the previous management team's decision and their right. They had worked on COTI for a decade. The average tenure of a CEO, even at S&P 500 companies, is under 8 years. CZ is no longer CEO of Binance, as one reference. The previous team gave a major part of their adult lives to COTI. There is nothing unusual in a fresh vision to expand the utility of a technology. That is all I am here to do. 10. Does the project have funds? Absolutely. On top of that, much of the team took a stake in the purchase, so there are no high salaries. The incentive is aligned with the community. COTI Foundation and COTI technology are here to stay. The only change is an added emphasis on end-user product development and marketing.