
Why Wall Street Is Moving Onchain (And Why Canton Is Different) | Yuval Rooz
In this conversation, Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset (creator of the Canton Network), explains why Canton's approach to institutional blockchain is unique and promising.
Canton's Fundamental Difference from Ethereum & Solana- Canton is not a direct competitor to Ethereum or Solana, but is specifically designed for institutional requirements.
- Core features:
- Privacy: Data is not replicated to all nodes, which is crucial for compliance with regulations like Swiss data domicile laws or HIPAA.
- Issuer Sovereignty: Unlike public chains, issuers have full control over their assets without third parties (like a Security Council) being able to manipulate them.
- Governance: A decentralized approach – Digital Asset has no control over network governance (e.g., chaired by Euroclear/DTCC).
- Economic Model: No priority fees (MEV) – transactions require burning tokens, reducing supply (currently ~9% burned in <2 years).
Canton is not a monolithic chain, but a network of networks ("Cantons"), inspired by Swiss cantons. This enables:
- Horizontal scaling through separate, independent ledgers.
- Atomic transactions across different Cantons (e.g., DVP via a "global synchronizer"). Transaction coordination and data storage are separated, increasing security – even a 51% attack on the super-validators cannot manipulate stored data.
- Superficial Tokenization ("Tokenization Theatre") only creates IOU tokens based on off-chain ledgers – introducing additional counterparty risk.
- True Tokenization (like Canton) makes the ledger the official books and records of an asset – similar to ETH on Ethereum. This requires privacy and issuer sovereignty.
- Real-time Cash Management: Global firms can use Canton to instantly convert idle cash (e.g., $1 billion) into money market funds, earning an additional $30–35 million annually.
- Collateral Efficiency: Real-time margining can improve balance sheet efficiency by 40–60% – a game-changer for trading firms.
- Canton aims to make existing financial markets more efficient without creating excessive new leverage (unlike many DeFi protocols).
- Zero-knowledge proofs are deemed impractical for regulatory purposes (e.g., liability issues for errors).
- Digital Asset has no pre-mine or token allocations for founders, employees, or investors.
- The $355 million funding round was purely equity-based – investors (like A16Z Crypto) bet on company value, not token allocations.
- Decentralized Governance: The Canton Foundation, which controls the open-source codebase, is chaired by Euroclear and DTCC – not Digital Asset.
"Canton is the only blockchain that attracts institutional financial flows in a way that reduces the real token supply through burning (currently ~9% in <2 years) – and with a governance model controlled by the largest market participants, not the founders."






