Canton Network operates as a public, permissionless system connecting independently governed financial applications. These applications transact across shared infrastructure while retaining control over privacy, access, and operational policies. Coordinating this activity requires a native mechanism for metering shared services, allocating incentives, and supporting decentralized operation at scale.

Canton Coin (CC) functions as the network’s utility token, tied directly to how applications interact, how transactions are synchronized, and how infrastructure is operated. CC is used to pay for coordination services, distribute rewards to participants, and reflect real usage of the network. Its design follows the same principles as the network itself: distribution linked to participation rather than early allocation, issuance responding to activity rather than fixed schedules, and incentives structured around contributors to network operation.

The role of CC in a network of independent applications

Canton is structured as a network of applications rather than a single global ledger. Each application operates under its own governance model, service-level agreements, and infrastructure. When applications interact, shared coordination is required to order transactions, prevent conflicts, and confirm outcomes consistently across participants.

CC acts as the unit that accounts for this shared coordination. Applications pay fees denominated in CC when they rely on synchronization services for cross-application transactions. These fees correspond to actual use of network-wide services rather than abstract execution capacity. As activity between applications increases, demand for synchronization capacity rises proportionally.

Economic constraints affecting CC’s design

The economic design of CC reflects constraints specific to institutional-scale financial networks. Activity is uneven, privacy-sensitive, and driven by a limited number of high-value workflows rather than constant retail throughput. Token models optimized for early distribution, fixed issuance, or validator-centric extraction tend to misalign incentives in this context.

Canton avoids pre-mined distribution and early allocation advantages. Every unit of CC enters circulation through participation in network activity. This removes preferential positioning based on timing and moves value capture toward those contributing ongoing utility.

The reward structure also avoids concentrating economics exclusively at the infrastructure layer. While validators and Super Validators are compensated, the majority of rewards flow to application providers. This shows where activity originates and where long-term network growth is generated.

Fixed inflation schedules are also not suited to usage-variable systems. CC issuance adjusts based on participation, allowing supply to track real demand rather than assumptions about future growth. Periods of increased usage result in greater issuance linked directly to that activity, while periods of lower usage naturally constrain supply growth.

Fees paid in CC are burned, while new CC is minted based on participation and contribution. This burn-and-mint equilibrium allows supply to further adjust in response to network activity. 

Application providers as primary reward recipients

As mentioned above, the largest share of CC rewards flows to application providers. Over the first decade of the network, approximately two-thirds of rewards are allocated to applications based on the relative activity they generate, with this allocation increasing over time.

Applications bring assets, workflows, and users onto the network, creating demand for synchronization and infrastructure services. CC rewards track this contribution directly. For builders, this structure establishes a continuous revenue stream tied to usage rather than one-time distribution events. As an application processes more onchain activity, its share of network rewards grows proportionally.

Infrastructure rewards and decentralized operation

CC also supports decentralized infrastructure operation across the network. Validators earn CC for validating transactions on smart contracts they are party to and for proving ongoing participation. Super Validators earn CC for operating global ordering services and validating CC transactions.

These roles focus on maintaining coordination, ordering, and availability rather than application logic. Rewards compensate infrastructure operators for concrete services provided to the network while avoiding excessive concentration of value at the consensus layer. Application providers, validators, and Super Validators each receive CC based on distinct and measurable contributions.

Transparency without compromising privacy

Transactions on Canton are private by default, with application data shared only among entitled participants. This privacy model extends to CC usage without obscuring network-level dynamics. CC fee flows and reward distributions are publicly observable, providing visibility into which applications and services drive network activity while transaction-level data remains confidential.

Network participants can assess incentive flows and usage patterns without access to sensitive financial information.

Conclusion

Canton Coin functions as the economic layer of the Canton Network. It meters shared coordination, rewards participation, and aligns incentives across applications and infrastructure. Issuance follows network activity rather than fixed schedules, while rewards flow primarily to application providers and support decentralized operation.

Within a network designed for institutional-scale finance, CC operates as infrastructure economics rather than a financial abstraction. Its role is to support sustained, real-world activity across a public, permissionless network.