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

Heated debate examines whether Canton is truly permissionless, probing issuer risk, privacy trade-offs, verifiability limits, and how super‑validators and UTXO design impact RWAs.

Key Takeaways

Canton uses a privacy-focused UTXO model: encrypted UTXOs visible only to designated parties, validators vote to consume UTXOs, and issuers often must co-sign transactions.
Permissionless status is disputed: anyone can apply to be a super‑validator, but existing SVs approve entrants and supermajorities can change permissions.
Issuer compromise risk: private systems can hide minting; public chains show supply jumps immediately, whereas Canton-issued inflation may propagate unseen to permissionless markets.
Limited public verifiability: Canton currently lacks global, independent state proofs; enforcement often depends on trusted issuers and mediators rather than network-level consensus.
Operational single points: hot-key single-server signatures can mint unlimited assets if breached; multisig, cold keys, thresholds and manual approvals are needed mitigations.
Institutional traction vs optics: Canton secured major TradFi partners and early SV incentives, fueling debate over governance, early allocation, and fairness.

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