Canton Network in 5 Minutes

A rapid introduction to Canton Network’s approach to privacy-preserving blockchain

Canton Network is a public blockchain that solves a fundamental problem: how do you get the benefits of blockchain (shared truth, automation, auditability) without exposing sensitive data to everyone?

The Core Insight

Traditional blockchains replicate all data to all nodes. This provides strong integrity guarantees but prevents privacy without additional layers.

Canton inverts this model: data goes only where it needs to go. Parties see only what they’re entitled to see, yet the system maintains the same integrity guarantees as a fully replicated blockchain.

How It Achieves This

Canton achieves this through three key innovations:

1. Sub-Transaction Privacy

Transactions are decomposed into views. Each party receives only the views they’re entitled to see based on their role (signatory, observer, controller).

If Alice pays Bob, and Bob pays Charlie in a single atomic transaction:

• Alice sees her payment to Bob
• Bob sees both payments (he’s involved in both)
• Charlie sees only his receipt from Bob
• Nobody else sees anything

2. Synchronizers Only Synchronize, Don’t Store Transaction State

The Global Synchronizer orders transactions and facilitates consensus but never sees transaction content. It handles encrypted messages and confirmation results only.

This separation means:

• No central point that can read all data
• Synchronization without visibility
• Validators store data for their hosted parties

3. Smart Contracts Define Privacy

Privacy isn’t a bolt-on feature. Daml smart contracts explicitly declare:

• Signatories: Who must authorize and always see the contract
• Observers: Who can see but not act
• Controllers: Who can execute specific actions

template Asset
  with
    owner : Party
    issuer : Party
    regulator : Party
  where
    signatory issuer      -- Must authorize; always sees
    observer owner, regulator  -- Can see

    choice Transfer : ContractId Asset
      with newOwner : Party
      controller owner    -- Only owner can execute the Transfer choice
      do create this with owner = newOwner

The Network

Canton Network consists of:

Component	Role
Global Synchronizer	Public synchronization layer operated by Super Validators
Validators	Nodes that host parties and store their contract data
Canton Coin (CC)	Native token for transaction fees
Applications	What you build on top

Each validator typically runs one or more applications. Applications can also compose with other applications—using their published Daml packages to build on top of existing functionality while preserving privacy.

Why This Matters

Canton enables use cases that are not feasible on traditional blockchains:

Use Case	Why Canton Works
Regulated finance	Data stays with entitled parties; compliance becomes possible
Multi-party workflows	Shared truth without shared visibility
Confidential agreements	Terms visible only to signatories
Position privacy	Trading strategies protected

What’s Different

If you’re coming from other blockchains:

Traditional Blockchain	Canton
Everyone sees everything	Parties see only their views
Global state replication	Distributed state per party
Privacy = additional layer	Privacy = core protocol
Gas fees	Traffic fees
EOA/Address	Party
Mutable contracts	Immutable; changes create new contracts

Next Steps

Why Canton?

Understand the problem Canton solves in depth.

Core Concepts

Learn about parties, validators, synchronizers, and smart contracts.

For Ethereum Devs

Translate your blockchain knowledge to Canton.

Architecture

See how components work together.