Chainlink has announced a strategic integration with the Canton Network, an institutional blockchain supported by a consortium of global banks and technology firms. This partnership, disclosed on Wednesday, aims to enhance the institutional adoption of blockchain technology by incorporating Chainlink’s data services into the Canton Network. These services include advanced data streams, smartdata offerings such as proof of reserve and NAVLink, as well as the cross-chain interoperability protocol (CCIP).
The Canton Network will also participate in the Chainlink Scale program, which helps mitigate the operational costs associated with running oracles. As part of this collaboration, Chainlink Labs is set to assume the role of a “super validator” within the Canton Network. In this capacity, it will operate a combined node that runs both a domain validator and a Canton synchronizer node, thereby facilitating the Global Synchronizer’s function in ordering and finalizing cross-domain transactions. This role is crucial for ensuring consensus and interoperability across the network.
Yuval Rooz, the CEO of Digital Asset, the developer behind the Canton Network, remarked that the addition of Chainlink not only enhances governance and resilience but also opens up new opportunities for innovation in both traditional and decentralized finance sectors. Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink, expressed optimism that this partnership could unlock “large-scale real-world use cases” that blend traditional and decentralized capital markets.
The Canton Network, which launched in May 2023, was purposefully designed to function as an institutional blockchain capable of supporting tokenization and significant financial activity. With backing from major players like Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and Cboe Global Markets, alongside crypto pioneers Digital Asset and Paxos, the network has made substantial strides since its inception.
The governing body of the network, recently rebranded from the Global Synchronizer Foundation to the Canton Foundation, includes notable validators like Chainlink. This name change was intended to better represent its mission and foster a stronger connection between the foundation’s activities and the Canton Network.
With its impressive roster of partners, the Canton Network has experienced remarkable growth, now supporting over $6 trillion in on-chain real-world assets and facilitating approximately $280 billion in daily repurchase agreements. Its ecosystem comprises around 500 validators and more than 30 super validators. Recent activities indicate its expanding influence, including the recent onboarding of P2P.org as a validator and new support from banks such as BNP Paribas and HSBC, which have both joined the Canton Foundation.
As global financial institutions ramp up their blockchain initiatives, the integration of Chainlink with the Canton Network comes at a significant time. Recently, Ripple and the tokenization platform Securitize established an integration involving the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin, which serves as an off-ramp for tokenized funds from major investment firms like BlackRock and VanEck. Additionally, London-based Fnality secured $136 million in funding from major financial backers, including Bank of America and Citi, while Kazakhstan’s central bank is piloting a tenge-backed stablecoin in collaboration with Solana and Mastercard.
