💡Spotlight: Canton Network

Canton Network is an open, public-permissioned blockchain built for large-scale institutional use, enabling banks, exchanges, and corporates to transact privately and compliantly at scale

History

Canton Network was launched in May 2023 by a powerful consortium that includes Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, BNP Paribas, CBOE, Deloitte, and other major financial institutions. The network operates under the governance of the Global Synchronizer Foundation, which is housed within the Linux Foundation to ensure decentralized decision-making and maintain neutrality across participants. Since its launch, Canton has successfully piloted tokenized assets including gilts, eurobonds, and gold with 27 participating organizations, demonstrating the platform's real-world viability for institutional-grade blockchain applications.

Key Features

• Privacy-preserving smart contracts: Canton uses Daml smart contracts with fine-grained data permissions—only relevant parties can see and interact with contract data.

• "Network of Networks" architecture: Canton enables interoperability across independently governed applications using Sync Domains, creating a decentralized mesh of connected systems.

• Global Synchronizer: At the core of Canton is the Global Synchronizer, a consensus mechanism that ensures atomic and consistent updates across all connected applications—without requiring a central operator. It coordinates transactions across participants and domains while preserving privacy and compliance.

• Institutional-grade scalability & compliance: Canton supports high-throughput use cases, is GDPR-compliant, and enables precise auditability—designed for regulated financial environments.

• Enterprise-grade adoption: Used by leading financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, and BNP Paribas to tokenize and trade bonds, cash, equities, and more.

Recent News

Canton now features its first explorer enabling transparency into Canton Coin balances, validator status, and token activity. Additionally, institutions like Novaprime and Tradeweb are actively processing mortgage hedging transactions on Canton, proving its real-world financial use

Future Outlook

Canton is poised to redefine institutional blockchain adoption through its unique privacy and compliance model, which positions it as a critical bridge between traditional finance and decentralized finance ecosystems. The platform's ongoing developments, including public sync domains and new validator services, are designed to expand both access and utility for institutional participants. Canton is strategically positioned to underpin trillions of dollars in tokenized assets on a global scale.

Learn more about Canton here!