Digital Asset has launched the Canton Network in collaboration with 29 market players, including Microsoft and Goldman Sachs. This blockchain network marks a significant milestone as the first of its kind for institutional assets.
Digital Asset, a blockchain application platform, has recently launched the ‘Canton Network’ in partnership with 29 other market players such as BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, FinClear, Deutsche Börse, and Microsoft. This marks the first blockchain network for institutional assets in the industry.
The Canton Network is a privacy-enabled, interoperable blockchain network that is specifically tailored for institutional assets. Its purpose is to unleash the full potential of synchronised financial markets. This decentralised infrastructure connects various independent applications developed with Digital Asset’s smart-contract language, Daml.
The offering from Digital Asset, the ‘Canton Network’, facilitates a “network of networks” that interconnects previously isolated systems within financial markets. This interoperability is achieved while maintaining the necessary governance, privacy, permissioning, and controls essential for highly regulated industries. By creating a safe and reconciliation-free environment, the network enables financial institutions (FIs) to synchronize assets, data, and cash freely across various applications. This enhanced efficiency and risk management capabilities also create opportunities for FIs to offer new and innovative products to their clients.
The Canton Network has a broad range of participants, including ASX, BNP Paribas, Broadridge, Capgemini, Cboe Global Markets, Cumberland, Deloitte, Deutsche Börse Group, Digital Asset, 3Homes, The Digital Dollar Project, DRW, Eleox, EquiLend, FinClear, Gambyl, Goldman Sachs, IntellectEU, Liberty City Ventures, Microsoft, Moody’s, Paxos, Right Pedal LendOS, S&P Global, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Umbrage, Versana, VERT Capital, Xpansiv, and Zinnia.
The challenges of the past
In the past, smart contract blockchain networks struggled to gain traction among financial institutions and other enterprises due to various obstacles. The Canton Network has identified three significant issues that have hindered meaningful adoption:
- Insufficient privacy and data control Previous blockchain networks lacked adequate privacy measures, preventing multiple regulated participants from using the technology on the same network.
- Trade-offs between control and interoperability Other blockchain networks required operators to sacrifice full control of their applications by using a shared pool of validators to achieve interoperability.
- Scaling limitations The competition for global network resources and capacity restrictions inherent in public blockchains made it challenging to achieve the scale and performance required by financial institutions in the past.
Addressing previous challenges
The Canton Network attempts to address these limitations by uniquely balancing the decentralisation of a network with the privacy and control required to operating within a safe and sound regulatory environment. The network enables participants to safeguard permits, exposure, and interactions throughout the network, to meet with security, regulatory and legal requirements.
Responding to market demands
Joseph Cody, Deloitte Consulting LLP principal, stated their commitment to using their experience in deploying interconnected apps across the Canton Network. We are proud to support Digital Asset in serving institutions that are revolutionizing the industry through asset tokenization, facilitating rapid cross-organizational settlement, creating new marketplaces, establishing an immutable record of shared data, and enabling secure transactions across the Canton Network.
“As the first of its kind, this blockchain network represents a significant milestone, and we are excited to collaborate with global leaders in the pursuit of a more connected and efficient future for financial services.”
Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO at Digital Asset, also emphasized the advantages offered by the Canton Network: “For the first time, financial institutions can fully realize the benefits of a global blockchain network while operating within regulatory boundaries that ensure a safe, sound, and equitable financial system. This is a significant advancement for the blockchain industry. We are eager to assist this founding group of network operators and users in creating and connecting applications to the Canton Network.”
And then Microsoft’s GM of AI, Emerging Technologies, and Business Development, Rashmi Misra, expressed excitement for supporting the Canton Network as a partner. We look forward to helping the financial community develop and scale cloud-enabled Web3 applications on Azure while utilizing AI to enhance the user experience and drive developer adoption.”
