As the Canton Network continues to scale it has become a central point of conversation for institutions exploring digital assets. Because of its unique design - tailored for institutional finance - some misunderstandings regarding its architecture, governance, and openness have emerged.

This article aims to address some common misconceptions, and clarify how the Canton Network functions, is governed, and delivers value to its global ecosystem.

Myth #1: Canton is a proprietary technology owned and operated by Digital Asset (DA)

Reality: Canton is an open-source, decentralized interoperability protocol. While DA developed the technology, Canton itself is a network of independent participants where no single entity owns or operates the entire network.

The Canton Foundation is an independent organization dedicated to fostering the transparent and open development, growth, and governance of the network.

The Foundation serves as a neutral body - independent from DA - to ensure that no single entity holds undue influence over the network's future or value. Its key responsibilities include facilitating network governance, ecosystem development, and overseeing infrastructure and operations.

The Canton Foundation’s membership consists of a diverse set of participants ranging from financial institutions to technology providers, including Blockdaemon, BNP Paribas, BNY, Broadridge, Calastone, Chainlink, Copper, DTCC (Co-Chair), EquiLend, Euroclear (Co-Chair), Global Blockchain Business Council, Goldman Sachs, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, HSBC, IntellectEU, Kaiko, Moody's, SBI Digital Asset Holdings, Tradeweb, and Zodia.

Digital Asset and many other organizations offer apps that run on the network, as well as providing advisory and support services.

Myth #2: Canton is not open source

Reality: Canton is fully open-source. The code is publicly available for auditing and contribution, fostering transparency and trust among all network participants. DA is just one of the core contributing organizations.

The Canton source code is here and the Splice code used by the Global Synchronizer is here.

Myth #3: You need a license and to pay for an “Enterprise Edition”

Reality: The Canton protocol is open-source, there is no specific “Enterprise Edition”. Participants build and run nodes using the open-source software, making it accessible to any organization without any enterprise licensing fees. Historically there was an enterprise version but all of its features are added to the open-source code base.

DA provides optional enterprise support for node and app operators, and expert advisory services for institutions that would like it.

Myth #4: Canton is not decentralized

Reality: Canton’s architecture achieves a very high degree of decentralization by design, enabling independent entities to operate nodes and transact securely. By distributing trust across multiple participants, it often exceeds the decentralization models found in many other public blockchain environments.

In chains like Ethereum, the rise of large staking pools introduces significant centralization risk. A few major providers can in theory exert disproportionate influence over network validation, meaning transaction finality can never be absolutely guaranteed, unlike on Canton.

Myth #5: Canton is an American network

Reality: Canton is a global network with participants distributed globally. The infrastructure is decentralized and geographically diverse across AMER, EMEA and APAC, ensuring no single regional jurisdiction can have control over the network.

DA has offices in Budapest, Hong Kong, London, New York, and Zurich. The bulk of software development is done in EMEA. More than half of the team are non-U.S. based.

Myth #6: Digital Asset controls who can join the network

Reality: At present, the Foundation (not DA) operates a light-touch approval process for organizations wishing to join the network. This is because demand has been exceptionally high and the Foundation wishes to ensure the network scales in a sustainable manner. In time, this approval process will be lifted, as determined by governance proposals, facilitated independently by the Foundation.

Myth #7: The Super Validators get to see all transactions

Reality: Super Validators (the decentralized group of organizations running the Global Synchronizer) do not see transaction data. They route and order encrypted envelopes, which they are unable to decrypt. They only have visibility into limited metadata, such as the transaction timestamp and the ordering of messages. Access to the actual transaction details is restricted exclusively to the participant nodes that are stakeholders in that specific transaction.

Super Validators function as "blind traffic controllers" for the network, ensuring the integrity and ordering of messages without ever seeing the contents within. The only activities they validate and have full visibility of are Canton Coin transactions (which are public by design) and onchain governance management.

Myth #8: Daml language is a barrier to adoption

Reality: Daml is designed for enterprise interoperability. Its focus on privacy, security, and smart contract safety makes it accessible to developers, and its capabilities are essential for complex financial workflows, actually reducing development friction compared to traditional programming environments. Putting it simply, it’s harder to get things wrong in Daml.

The integration of AI and LLM-based coding assistants significantly lowers barriers to adoption by helping developers learn and write Daml code more efficiently. These tools provide real-time guidance, automate boilerplate creation, and troubleshoot syntax, enabling teams to prototype and deploy financial applications with greater speed and ease.

Furthermore, extensive online training, documentation and examples allow developers to quickly become productive.

Myth #9: There’s less activity on Canton than Ethereum

Reality: Every month, over $8 trillion in tokenized assets are processed on Canton, including more than $350 billion in daily U.S. Treasury repo transactions. That’s more than all the other blockchains put together.

Activity on Canton should not be measured by speculative retail volume, but by the high-value institutional financial flows it supports. While Ethereum is often associated with retail and crypto-native activity, Canton is purpose-built for real-world financial markets, where privacy, finality, interoperability, scalability, and governance really matter.

Myth #10: Canton - EVM interoperability will be worse than Besu - EVM interoperability

Reality: Many teams mistakenly believe that building on a private Ethereum derivative gives them an automatic, seamless bridge to public DeFi liquidity later, operating under the assumption that “it’s all EVM, so it will all play nicely together.” This myth is like saying two entirely separate systems will integrate effortlessly just because both were written in Java. The interoperability between a private EVM chain such as Besu and Ethereum mainnet is no better than that between Canton and Ethereum mainnet - both rely on the exact same overhead of APIs and message bridges. (i.e. the same way we have done systems integration for decades).

Conclusion

Canton is built to move beyond the limitations of traditional blockchains that have hindered institutional adoption. By prioritizing privacy, finality, interoperability, scalability, and governance, the network provides the necessary infrastructure that now make it possible to mobilize a $900+ trillion real-world asset market on blockchain rails.

DA actively partners with institutions to accelerate their journey on Canton. If you want to get started independently, check out the Canton Network documentation or engage with the Canton Foundation to find out how you can participate in the onchain rails for regulated, institutional-grade finance.