TL;DR COTI has announced COTI Nightfall — a major upgrade to our enterprise privacy ecosystem. In this FAQ, we answer the community’s top questions about Nightfall, COTI’s expanding privacy stack, and what it means for the COTI token. What is Nightfall?
Nightfall is an open-source zero-knowledge privacy layer originally built by Ernst & Young (EY) in 2019 and released to the public domain. Since then, it has undergone significant upgrades — including a 2025 transition to a full Zero-Knowledge (ZK) roll-up architecture that delivers near-instant finality and improved performance. EY continues to actively support the evolution of the protocol.
Who is EY (Ernst & Young)?
EY is one of the Big Four professional services firms (alongside Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG). Operating as a global network under Ernst & Young Global Limited, EY serves enterprise clients across nearly every major industry — with services spanning assurance, consulting, tax, strategy, and transactions in more than 150 countries. EY’s notable client list includes Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet & many more.
What is COTI Nightfall?
COTI Nightfall is an Ethereum-based Zero-Knowledge (ZK) roll-up and privacy layer that we’re integrating into the COTI privacy ecosystem. It enables confidential transactions on Ethereum and Ethereum-compatible networks while preserving the transparency, immutability, and security that enterprises require.
What can COTI Nightfall do?
Key capabilities include:
Private transfers across multiple token standards (ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155, ERC-3525)
Efficient ZK roll-ups with near-instant finality
Decentralized permissioning and KYC-gating for regulated environments
Confidential smart contracts with end-to-end encryption
Selective disclosure and multichain composability
What is the purpose of COTI Nightfall?
COTI Nightfall gives us an additional ZK-based privacy stack and a new path to onboard enterprises into the COTI ecosystem — complete with built-in compliance and institutional workflows. In short: we’re doubling down on enterprise adoption by offering another proven technology path alongside Garbled Circuits.
When does COTI Nightfall launch?
COTI Nightfall is scheduled to launch on testnet in the near future, with mainnet deployment planned for later in 2026.
Why is COTI launching a ZK solution alongside Garbled Circuits?
COTI is evolving into the All-in-One Privacy Protocol. To meet that goal, we’re introducing an enterprise-grade ZK solution alongside our high-performance Garbled Circuits — so that any enterprise or builder, regardless of their preferred privacy approach, can build on COTI.
What does ‘All-in-One Privacy Protocol’ mean?
COTI is evolving from a single-chain privacy solution into a multi-chain privacy protocol. This includes COTI GC on our native network for fast, scalable confidential computation; Privacy-on-Demand to bring GC to other leading blockchains; and the newly introduced COTI Nightfall ZK for enterprise-grade compliance workflows. Together, these offer every enterprise, builder, and user a fully customizable privacy solution.
What is Privacy-on-Demand?
This year, COTI is bringing Garbled Circuits to leading L1 and L2 chains via Privacy-on-Demand. This opens the door for thousands of apps and dApps on other chains to leverage COTI’s GC for private computation and transactions — all powered by the COTI token.
Will COTI still be focused on Garbled Circuits and Privacy-on-Demand?
Absolutely. COTI remains focused on scaling projects and builders on our GC-powered mainnet. We’re also bringing GC-powered privacy to several leading blockchains this year, starting with Ethereum.
How does the multi-chain expansion affect the COTI token?
COTI is expanding to power privacy across multiple chains. When users bridge COTI tokens to a new chain, the tokens transfer 1:1. More chains means more utility, more demand and more fee revenue — without any dilution.
Does Nightfall introduce a new token?
No. COTI Nightfall will be powered by the native COTI token.
Are new COTI tokens being created?
No. The maximum supply cap remains fixed. No new tokens are being minted.
How will the COTI token work across multiple chains?
Both COTI GC-mainnet and COTI Nightfall are powered by a single COTI token. Fees, staking, governance, and privacy services on Nightfall will all use the COTI token — the same as on our native network.
How will COTI Nightfall expand token utility?
By driving more enterprise adoption and expanding use cases — which in turn drives more fees, privacy services, staking, burns, and governance activity, all without supply dilution.
Whether a builder chooses COTI GC or COTI Nightfall ZK, value flows back to the same ecosystem and the same token.
Read our Tokenomics Upgrade for more details.
As a token holder, do I need to do anything?
No action is required. COTI remains the same token.
What’s next for COTI?
COTI will continue expanding our ecosystem — including onboarding and partnering with leading global enterprises to bring privacy to the forefront of blockchain.
Stay COTI. 🚀
About COTI:
COTI is the programmable privacy layer for Web3. Powered by high-performance Garbled Circuits (GC), COTI enables encrypted computation on public blockchains — delivering fast, low-cost, and compliant privacy for DeFi, payments, identity, governance, and AI applications.
For COTI updates and to join the conversation, be sure to check out our channels:
Website: https://coti.io/
X: https://twitter.com/COTInetwork
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl-2YzhaPnouvBtotKuM4DA
Telegram: https://t.me/COTInetwork
Discord: https://discord.gg/9tq6CP6XrT
GitHub: https://github.com/coti-io