Canton Network in 5 Minutes

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.canton.network/llms.txt Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

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.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Traditional[Traditional Blockchain]
        TX1[Transaction] --> ALL[All Nodes]
        ALL --> N1[Node 1: sees everything]
        ALL --> N2[Node 2: sees everything]
        ALL --> N3[Node N: sees everything]
    end

flowchart LR
    subgraph Canton[Canton Network]
        TX2[Transaction] --> VIEWS[Split into Views]
        VIEWS --> VA[Alice's validator: sees Alice's view]
        VIEWS --> VB[Bob's validator: sees Bob's view]
        VIEWS --> VC[Charlie's validator: sees Charlie's view]
    end

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:

flowchart TB
    subgraph GS[Global Synchronizer]
        SV1[Super Validator 1]
        SV2[Super Validator 2]
        SV3[Super Validator N]
    end

    V1[Validator A<br>+ App A] <--> GS
    V2[Validator B<br>+ App B] <--> GS
    V3[Validator C<br>+ App C] <--> GS

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:

What’s Different

If you’re coming from other blockchains:

Next Steps

Mirrored from Canton Network official documentation (CC-BY-4.0) by CC Privacy Club for learning purposes.