COTI has been announced as a Pioneer Partner in the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Digital Euro project.
With its privacy layer already drawing attention in institutional circles, COTI will now help test one of the most ambitious monetary infrastructure projects Europe has ever attempted.
And it’s not just testing wallets or compliance rails—COTI is diving head-first into confidential programmable payments, where privacy, policy, and programmable money intersect.
Inside the ECB’s Innovation Platform: The Digital Euro Begins to Take Shape
The ECB’s Digital Euro pilot program brings together over 70 market participants, including merchants, banks, fintechs, and infrastructure providers. This innovation platform is designed to stress-test various layers of the digital euro: from payment use cases to privacy, settlement, and programmable conditions.
Among this crowd, COTI stands out—not for size, but for its technological edge.
Specifically, COTI is working with the ECB to simulate conditional payments using Garbled Circuits—a cryptographic technique enabling confidential execution without leaking sensitive transaction data. This is a first-of-its-kind institutional test of privacy tech built for programmable money on a central bank layer.
The ECB confirmed COTI’s role in its official press release on May 5, 2025:
“The exploration will be conducted with a simulated technical environment provided by the Eurosystem and supported by selected participants of the digital euro scheme... aimed at exploring digital euro payment functionalities and innovative use cases.”
Source: ECB Press Release
Privacy by Design: Why COTI Was Chosen
The ECB has been crystal clear: privacy is a non-negotiable principle for the digital euro.
This is where COTI fits in.
“The main objective is to enable conditional payments and verify asset provenance without revealing user-sensitive information,” said COTI in its announcement.
COTI’s unique contribution is built on Soda Labs’ Garbled Circuits—a cryptographic technique implemented on-chain to allow privacy-preserving smart contracts. This isn’t the first time COTI’s privacy rails have caught a central bank’s eye. In fact, they’ve already collaborated with the Bank of Israel’s Digital Shekel project, where they tested similar zero-leak conditional transfer mechanisms.
Conditional Payments: The Digital Euro’s Most Underrated Superpower?
While much of the CBDC conversation revolves around retail access, offline transactions, and anti-money laundering frameworks, the ability to automate transactions based on pre-agreed conditions could redefine the very concept of programmable public money.
And COTI is pioneering that future.
Examples of conditional payments include:
- Instant settlements upon delivery of goods
- Automatic disbursements tied to service completion
- Escrow-less financial contracts
- Multi-party payments for gig economy or royalties
These features are impossible in traditional euro systems—but entirely plausible under a privacy-protected CBDC architecture.
What’s Next: Timeline and Outlook for Digital Euro
According to the ECB’s roadmap, the Digital Euro is expected to launch in early 2026, with the current exploratory phase focused on:
- Selecting infrastructure providers
- Simulating usage across retail and institutional channels
- Finalizing the digital euro rulebook
- Testing privacy and compliance integration
The results of this pilot—with COTI and others—will be compiled into a full report later in 2025.
Why This Matters for COTI and the Broader Crypto Space
This isn’t just another pilot. COTI's participation in a Eurosystem-led CBDC sandbox positions it at the heart of the future monetary stack in Europe.
More importantly, it validates the notion that privacy is not anti-regulation—in fact, it's essential to a well-governed digital currency.
From DeFi to CBDCs, COTI is now showing that its privacy rails can operate in both wild and walled gardens. That’s a rare feat.
And if successful, this partnership could lead to long-term contracts, advisory positions, and potentially even integration into production-grade digital euro systems.
Final Thoughts: Privacy Isn't Optional, It's Foundational
The ECB’s inclusion of COTI speaks volumes about where institutional digital money is headed: toward programmability, privacy, and provable compliance.
As Shahaf Bar-Geffen, CEO of COTI, put it:
"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. Privacy is a vital component for the future of Web3, ensuring users’ security and organizations’ compliance, and the same benefits apply to CBDCs. It’s critical that confidentiality is built into the core of these new systems, not merely added as an afterthought.”
With eyes now on Europe’s digital future, it’s safe to say that COTI isn’t just participating—it’s pioneering.
