Reflections on the Canton Network Project in the RWA Track

Author: Haotian; Source: X, @tmel0211

Canton Network has been generating a lot of buzz lately in the RWA (Real-Time Asset Wafer) space. With $135 million in funding and endorsements from Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs, HSBC, and DTCC, it claims to be building a "global financial operating system." Another Wall Street-style narrative masterpiece? Let's discuss my thoughts:

1) Canton is indeed different from most RWAs on the market. RWAs in the conventional sense are essentially still based on synthetic assets. The issuers are still traditional financial intermediaries; the on-chain layer is just an additional layer of blockchain technology, essentially transferring off-chain assets to the on-chain through a mapping mechanism.

Canton's approach is different: it allows the original issuers of the assets to issue them directly on-chain. What does this mean? For example, DTCC (Depository and Clearing Corporation of the United States) directly issues US Treasury bonds on Canton. The smart contract itself is a legal contract, establishing a direct contractual relationship between the buyer and the issuer, eliminating the need for intermediaries to profit from the difference. This is not simply "tokenization," but "nativeization." Although it sounds like just a different term, the underlying logic is completely different. Currently, Canton has over $12 billion in regulated-grade assets natively issued, covering bonds, money market funds, alternative investment funds, etc. 2) Let's talk about their main focus on "institutional privacy." Zcash's recent outstanding performance in the secondary market has fueled enthusiasm for the privacy sector. But frankly, Canton's privacy attributes are somewhat different. Zcash targets public payment scenarios, emphasizing "optional privacy," where users can choose anonymity or transparency. Canton targets regulated institutional businesses, emphasizing "selective visibility/disclosure on demand." Transactions are kept confidential from each other, but regulatory bodies can audit them at any time, ensuring full traceability of compliance evidence. This design is tailored to comply with regulatory frameworks such as the SEC, EU, and GDPR. In short, it seeks a balance between privacy and compliance. 3) What is the current adoption status of Canton? Currently, Canton has 28,000 registered wallets, primarily institutional accounts. This number should clarify that Canton is primarily a B2B institutional infrastructure, far from large-scale consumer applications. This indicates that the Canton team clearly understands their strategy: first, to establish a robust institutional infrastructure, and then extend to the consumer market. This approach is quite clever. Why? Because the institutional market is a scarce resource, with high entry barriers, deep networks of relationships, and strict regulatory requirements—essentially a project's true moat. Canton's strategy of first conquering the B2B institutional market before expanding to the B2C market is essentially a strategy of "lowering the bar." In fact, with this strategy in place, Canton's ecosystem activities have recently become more active. Of course, even so, Canton's narrative ceiling will be limited by "institutional adoption" for a considerable period. When trading cryptocurrencies or ecosystems, we must clearly understand where the project's ceiling lies. Obviously, Canton's value growth curve will inevitably be a slow but stable "institutional adoption" curve. That's all. In summary, I believe Canton represents a relatively pragmatic direction for the RWA (Real-Time Analysis and Automation) field, but how far it can go depends on two variables: first, the speed of regulatory policy evolution; and second, the determination of traditional financial giants to embrace on-chain technology.