Digital Asset’s blockchain platform Canton has successfully concluded a pilot program involving a significant number of prominent investment banks and asset managers, showcasing the interoperability of independent distributed ledger applications (dApps) within the capital markets sector.

The blockchain pilot focused on tokenized real-world assets and engaged 155 participants from 45 leading organizations, demonstrating settlement activities across 22 permissioned blockchains interconnected on Canton while upholding the necessary controls mandated for regulated capital markets.

Key industry players with operational blockchain applications such as Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, DTCC, Northern Trust, Standard Chartered, State Street, BNY Mellon, Broadridge, EquiLend, and Paxos were part of this initiative.

During the pilot, more than 350 simulated transactions were successfully executed, showcasing how a network of interoperable applications can facilitate secure, atomic transactions spanning various segments of the capital markets value chain. Digital Asset highlighted the potential advantages of leveraging such a network to mitigate counterparty and settlement risks, optimize capital utilization, and enable intraday margin cycles.

In a recent demonstration of the Canton network, Kelly Mathieson, Chief Business Development Officer at Digital Asset, emphasized the significance of achieving native interoperability while maintaining privacy. The pilot underscored the capability to interoperate seamlessly while safeguarding privacy and control, a feature that resonated strongly with participants.

The pilot program provided participants access to distributed ledger applications for asset tokenization, digital cash, fund registry, repo, securities lending, and margin management transactions—all designed to interoperate via the Canton Network TestNet.

Participants engaged in simulated transactions that illustrated real-time settlement and immediate reconciliation across counterparty systems while adhering to regulatory asset control, security, and data privacy protocols.

The pilot program brought together a diverse array of market participants, including asset managers, banks, custodians, exchanges, and financial market infrastructure providers, engaging in simulated transactions and demonstrations.

The Canton Network, introduced by Digital Asset in May 2023, is hailed as the industry’s first privacy-enabled interoperable blockchain network tailored for institutional assets. By establishing a ‘network of networks,’ Canton aims to facilitate interoperability among previously isolated financial systems, incorporating the necessary governance, privacy, permissioning, and controls essential for highly regulated industries.

The network’s atomicity feature, highlighted by Mathieson, is poised to significantly reduce market risks by ensuring that complex transactions are processed in their entirety or not at all, thereby eliminating the need for reconciliation in non-Canton systems.

The recent pilot has demonstrated the Canton Network’s potential to drive cost efficiencies, mitigate risks, and address regulatory requirements pertaining to the issuance, transfer, and settlement of tokenized traditional assets.

Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset, expressed pride in the pilot program’s success, emphasizing Canton’s role in enabling previously segregated financial systems to synchronize in unprecedented ways while upholding regulatory compliance. The company looks forward to collaborating with pilot participants to explore additional use cases where the Canton Network can be effectively leveraged.