What is Canton Network?

Canton Network is a public blockchain built for regulated finance. Its main feature is privacy: each party to a transaction sees only the data it is entitled to see, rather than everything being visible to everyone. Its docs say it launched in May 2023, and its native token is Canton Coin.

What is Canton Network crypto?

Most public blockchains, such as Ethereum, show every transaction to every node. That suits open networks but not banks, which cannot reveal client trades. Canton takes a different approach, summed up in its docs as data going only where it needs to go. The public vs private blockchain guide explains the usual trade-off Canton is trying to avoid.

Three pieces make this work:

• Daml smart contracts. Developers write apps in Daml, a language for multi-party agreements. Each contract states who must sign it, who may see it and who can act on it.
• Validators. These nodes host parties, such as a bank or fund, and store only the contract data those parties are involved in.
• The Global Synchronizer. This public layer, run by a group of Super Validators, puts transactions in order and confirms them. It handles only encrypted messages and results, not the transaction details.

Transactions are split into views, so a bank in a trade might see the payment while a custodian sees only the asset transfer.

What is Canton Network used for?

Canton is aimed at financial markets. A June 2025 press release, issued when its developer Digital Asset raised $135 million, said assets already on the network included bonds, money market funds, repurchase agreements, commodities, mortgages and annuities. It reported about 400 ecosystem participants. Goldman Sachs said Digital Asset's technology is foundational to its own digital asset platform.

In December 2025, DTCC, which runs core US securities settlement, said it would let a subset of US Treasury securities held at its DTC subsidiary be minted on Canton. It targeted a first version in a controlled production setting in the first half of 2026. Check DTCC for current status. Our guides to tokenization and tokenized treasuries cover the wider trend.

Which banks are involved in Canton Network?

The June 2025 round included BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, DTCC, Circle Ventures, Paxos and several trading firms, led by DRW and Tradeweb. The network is governed by the Canton Foundation. DTCC said it would become co-chair of the foundation alongside Euroclear.

What is Canton Coin?

Canton Coin, or CC, pays traffic fees on the Global Synchronizer and rewards the parties that run it. Fees are priced in US dollars but paid in CC, which is burned. New CC is minted each round as rewards for Super Validators, validators whose users are active, and featured apps. The docs describe a burn-mint equilibrium, where over the long run the CC burned through real use roughly balances the CC minted.