canton network
Overview
Canton Network is the enterprise blockchain developed by Digital Asset, designed specifically for regulated financial services. Parthenon Fi is built on Canton because it provides the four architectural properties that institutional credit infrastructure requires: sub-transaction privacy, atomic settlement, programmable compliance, and favorable regulatory capital treatment.
Why Canton
Sub-Transaction Privacy
Canton's privacy model is fundamentally different from public blockchains. On Ethereum, Solana, or any public ledger, every transaction is visible to every participant. On Canton, each party sees only the data relevant to their transaction.
For institutional credit, this means:
Borrower and lender positions are not visible to competitors
Collateral composition and LTV ratios are known only to relevant parties
Secondary market trades are private between buyer, seller, and custodian
Trading strategies and portfolio composition remain confidential
This is not optional "privacy layer" add-on — it is the fundamental architecture of the network.
Atomic DvP Settlement
Canton enables delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement as a single atomic operation. When a loan executes on Parthenon:
The borrower receives principal AND the lender receives the LPT simultaneously
There is no settlement gap, no pending state, no counterparty risk during settlement
If either leg fails, both fail — no partial execution
This eliminates the T+2 settlement risk of traditional finance and the sequential transaction risk of public DeFi.
Programmable Compliance
Canton smart contracts are written in Daml (Digital Asset Modeling Language), which enables compliance rules to be embedded directly in contract logic:
KYC/AML verification checks execute before any transaction
Sanctions screening is invoked automatically at counterparty interaction points
Jurisdictional restrictions prevent prohibited cross-border transactions
Transfer restrictions on LPTs enforce Known Lender requirements
Basel Group 1 Treatment
Canton's "public permissioned" architecture qualifies tokenized assets hosted on the network for Basel Group 1 regulatory capital treatment. This is significantly more favorable than the punitive 1,250% risk weight applied to Group 2 digital assets (including most public blockchain tokens).
For institutional counterparties subject to Basel capital requirements, this means holding Parthenon LPTs is capital-efficient — a critical factor for bank and fund participation.
Network Participants
Canton is backed by the largest financial infrastructure providers:
DTCC
Investor. SEC no-action letter (Dec 2025) for US Treasury tokenization on Canton.
Goldman Sachs
Investor ($135M round, Dec 2025).
BNY
Investor. Custody and asset servicing.
JPMorgan (Kinexys)
JPM Coin (JPMD) coming natively to Canton in 2026.
Nasdaq
Investor. Market infrastructure.
S&P Global
Investor. Data and analytics.
Digital Asset
Network developer. Raised $135M in Dec 2025.
Daml Smart Contracts
Parthenon's smart contracts are written in Daml, which provides:
Type safety: Contract templates with strongly typed parameters prevent common coding errors
Authorization model: Every action requires explicit authorization from relevant parties
No global state: Contracts are shared only between parties, preventing information leakage
Formal verification: Daml contracts can be formally verified for correctness
Deterministic execution: Same inputs always produce same outputs — no MEV extraction possible
Supervisory Nodes
Canton supports supervisory nodes that provide regulators with read access to relevant transaction data without exposing it to other market participants. This enables:
Regulatory reporting and audit trail maintenance
AML/CFT monitoring by supervisory authorities
Compliance verification without compromising counterparty privacy
Parthenon's architecture is designed to support supervisory node access for ADGM FSRA and other relevant regulators.