Is Canton Permissionless? CEO Says Yes, but SuperValidators Need Approval

In this intense episode of Unchained, host Laura Shin dives into the controversy surrounding Canton, a blockchain infrastructure developed by Digital Asset, with CEO Yuval Ruz, Dragonfly's Hasib Qureshi, and Matter Labs' Alex Glukowski. The central debate revolves around whether Canton is truly 'permissionless' and whether it qualifies as a blockchain at all. Ruz defends Canton as permissionless, arguing that anyone can apply to become a super validator and that the network's design—centered on institutional adoption, privacy, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization—serves a critical role in bringing traditional finance on-chain. Critics, particularly Glukowski, argue that Canton is not a blockchain but a 'mediated messaging network' because it lacks public verifiability, cannot enforce aggregate financial rules via consensus, and relies on centralized issuers. The discussion intensifies over issues like double-spend prevention, systemic risk from compromised issuers, and the absence of public state visibility. Ruz counters that decentralized assets like CBTC exist on Canton and that the network's model is more secure than some public chains. The episode also addresses accusations of unfair incentives, with Ruz rejecting claims that early validators were paid, and debates over MEV in TradFi versus crypto. Despite the heated exchange, the conversation underscores a fundamental tension in crypto: the trade-off between privacy, institutional utility, and the core principles of decentralization and transparency.