Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed Eric Saraniecki, Canton Network | How Financial Markets Actually Work (And Why They Don’t)
Apr 9, 2026
Eric Saraniecki, co‑founder of Digital Asset and lead architect of the Canton Network, works to bring institutional markets on-chain with privacy and interoperability. He discusses why public chains struggle for institutions. He explains Canton’s institutional-first rollout, privacy as a core primitive, governance and neutrality, and why incremental, pragmatic progress will remake settlement systems.
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Rotate The Economy On Chain
- Canton aims to make financial actions instantaneous by rotating the world's economy on-chain to remove days-long settlement frictions.
- Eric cites trillions of RWA notional transacting monthly and emphasizes privacy as the network's core primitive that unlocks institutional use at scale.
Start Institutional Then Expand Outward
- Canton targeted large institutions first to build credibility and anchor tenants, then opened connectivity to create network effects.
- They launched decentralized infrastructure and Canton coin to incentivize early movers and bridge TradFi with DeFi.
Why Public Chains Struggle With Institutions
- Public chains lack features institutions need: privacy, control, predictable fees, and governance guarantees, so many build private alternatives.
- Canton positions itself as a neutral L1 offering configurable privacy and validator controls while keeping interoperability.