Summary:
- COTI partners with Sayfer, a Web3 cybersecurity firm with 100+ global clients.
- Independent audits completed for private tokens and the upcoming Privacy Portal.
- Sayfer joins as a long-term security advisor for COTI's privacy infrastructure.
- Future plans include real-time, AI-powered security monitoring.
Privacy has become one of the most discussed topics in crypto. But building private infrastructure is only half the job. The harder part is making sure it actually holds up under pressure. As more systems move toward encrypted transactions and confidential computation, the risks also change. It's no longer just about protecting funds. It's about protecting logic, data flows, and hidden states that can't be easily inspected on-chain. That's where security becomes critical. COTI has been pushing hard on privacy with its Garbled Circuits-based infrastructure. They recently introduced a second path called Nightfall. It's a Zero-Knowledge rollup designed for institutions. The focus has always been clear - fast, scalable, and usable privacy. But as the ecosystem expands with new tools like private tokens and the Privacy Portal, the stakes get higher. This is one of the reasons for the new partnership with Sayfer. Also, Sayfer joined as a long-term security advisor. COTInetwork announced the partnership on X,
Instead of treating audits as a final checkbox before launch, COTI is bringing in a long-term security partner. The idea is that privacy works at scale, tested, challenged, and verified continuously.
Meet Sayfer - The Security Layer Behind the Scenes
Sayfer founded in 2019, the firm has worked across a wide range of protocols, securing billions in assets for over 100 clients. Their portfolio includes major names like MetaMask, 1inch, Polkadot, Tezos, Binance Smart Chain, StarkWare, and Tenderly. Sayfer focuses on deep, manual audits. Like line-by-line code analysis, combined with penetration testing across the full stack - from smart contracts to cloud infrastructure and key management systems. Their model is built around what they call an offensive-defense methodology. In simple terms, they think like attackers to find problems before attackers do. And so far, the track record speaks for itself, Zero client hacks.
For COTI, It's about making sure the privacy layer - which by design hides information - is still fully secure underneath. Sayfer has already completed a series of audits covering some of COTI's most important upcoming releases. The first focus area was private tokens, also referred to as p.tokens. These are ERC-20 tokens built on COTI that allow balances to remain encrypted on-chain. Users can send and receive tokens as usual, but the actual amounts are hidden and only visible to the owner. To make this work, several complex components need to operate correctly like encrypted balance logic, key handling, transaction validation, and data parsing. Sayfer reviewed all of these elements in detail. Every issue identified during the audit was addressed by the COTI team before moving forward. That matters, especially when dealing with encrypted systems where bugs are harder to detect after deployment.
The second major component was the Privacy Portal. This is the user-facing application that allows tokens to be converted from public to private in a single step, and back again when needed. It acts as the bridge between standard blockchain activity and confidential transactions. From a user perspective, it feels simple. But under the hood, it involves contract interactions, encryption flows, and state transitions that need to be airtight. Sayfer stress-tested these contracts as well, ensuring they behave correctly under different conditions. Then there's the MetaMask Snap upgrade. This update introduces support for a new confidential token standard, along with features like private NFTs, improved gas handling, and multi-network switching. Since this Snap acts as the main interface for interacting with private assets, it also went through Sayfer's audit process. Together, these audits cover the core pieces of COTI's next phase.
Moving Beyond One-Time Audits
One of the more interesting parts of this partnership is what comes next. Traditional audits happen at a fixed point in time. Code is reviewed, issues are fixed, and then the system goes live. But once deployed, monitoring often becomes reactive. Sayfer is working on something different. They're building an AI-powered security layer designed for continuous auditing. Instead of checking code once, the system monitors it over time, looking for unusual behavior, vulnerabilities, or unexpected changes. This combines automated detection with human expertise from senior auditors.
For COTI, this means security doesn't stop after launch. It becomes an ongoing process. As more features roll out especially across privacy-focused systems - having real-time visibility into potential risks becomes more important. It reduces response time and allows teams to fix issues before they escalate. It also fits the broader direction of the industry, where protocols are becoming more complex and interconnected.
READ MORE: Vitalik Said "Build Something New." COTI Already Did
Why This Matters for COTI's Privacy Stack
COTI's approach to privacy is already different from most projects. It uses Garbled Circuits to enable confidential computation. This allows data to remain encrypted even during processing, which opens up new types of applications. But that also introduces new challenges. When data is hidden, verifying correctness becomes harder. You can't simply inspect transactions or balances in the same way as traditional blockchains. That's why security needs to go deeper. This partnership addresses a key issue of making sure that confidential computation is secure at the code level. By combining COTI's privacy infrastructure with Sayfer's auditing expertise, the system gets both performance and reliability. Users benefit from knowing their assets and transactions are protected by encryption and audited logic. Developers gain confidence that they're building on infrastructure that has been tested thoroughly. It sets a higher standard for what privacy in Web3 should look like.
Sayfer is joining as a long-term security advisor. That means ongoing involvement as new features, upgrades, and products are introduced. As COTI continues expanding its privacy ecosystem, the need for consistent security oversight grows. Each new component adds complexity, and each integration introduces potential risks. Having a dedicated security partner helps manage that complexity. It also becomes part of the development process. Sayfer's leadership also highlighted the collaboration, saying:
That kind of alignment matters. It shows both sides are focused on getting the core systems right, not just shipping features quickly.
Final Thought
Privacy in crypto is moving forward fast. But speed alone doesn't solve the problem. If anything, it raises the bar for security. COTI's partnership with Sayfer reflects that reality. COTI's not only focusing on building new tools, the focus is now on making sure those tools are solid from the ground up. Audited contracts, tested systems, and continuous monitoring all play a role in that. It's a quieter kind of progress. Because in the end, privacy only works if people trust it. And trust doesn't come from claims - it comes from systems that hold up when it matters.