A notable shift is occurring within the crypto market’s privacy sector, as investor capital begins flowing from established names like Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH) towards lower-capacity alternatives, with COTI emerging as a primary beneficiary. This movement highlights a growing market preference for next-generation programmable privacy solutions.
The Allure of Programmable Privacy
The driving force behind this capital rotation appears to be COTI’s advanced technological approach. While Zcash utilizes zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) and Dash relies on its CoinJoin-based PrivateSend protocol, COTI has pivoted to a focus on programmable privacy using a technology called Garbled Circuits.
This technology is designed to offer developers greater flexibility, allowing users to control their data and enabling privacy features to be integrated directly into applications. COTI’s CEO, Shahaf Bar-Geffen, has framed this not as a mere feature, but as essential infrastructure, stating, “Privacy isn’t a feature for the next cycle. It’s the infrastructure that unlocks the next trillion in on-chain value”. This vision of privacy as a versatile building block, now integrated across more than 70 blockchain networks including Ethereum, is convincing investors that COTI holds a distinct advantage for the future of decentralized finance (DeFi) and real-world assets (RWAs).
Signs of Growth and Rising Confidence
This interest is translating into tangible on-chain growth and market performance. In November 2025, COTI’s market capitalization nearly doubled, rising from $65 million to $127 million. Underlying this price surge is strengthening network activity. Data from Cotiscan shows the number of daily active addresses has reached a six-month high, growing from around 100 per day in April to over 650, while the network consistently processes more than 22,000 transactions daily. This growth in fundamental metrics suggests rising user adoption and provides a foundation for investor optimism, reviving hopes that COTI could eventually return to its previous market cap highs.
A Calculated Risk in the Market Cycle
The shift of capital into a low-cap project like COTI signals a specific phase in the market. It suggests that some investors may view the larger, more established privacy coins as fully valued and are now seeking higher returns in smaller, more speculative assets. This behavior is characteristic of a classic crypto capital rotation cycle, where money moves from large-cap leaders to riskier, low-cap alternatives.
While this offers the potential for greater yields, it inherently comes with higher volatility and liquidity risks. The sustainability of COTI’s rally will depend on its ability to convert current hype into long-term, widespread adoption, a challenge that all privacy-focused projects must overcome to secure a lasting market position.
