WalletConnect Adds Canton Network Support to Expand Institutional Finance Access
WalletConnect has integrated Canton Network, a blockchain designed for institutional finance, expanding access to privacy-oriented infrastructure for its global user base.
The partnership was first disclosed during a panel at EthCC in Cannes moderated by The Defiant's senior editor Olivia Capozzalo, and was publicly announced today, April 22. The integration is positioned to connect Canton's privacy-focused rails with WalletConnect's ecosystem, enabling stablecoin payments, tokenized real-world assets, and DeFi applications.
In a press release reviewed by The Defiant, WalletConnect said its ecosystem spans 700 crypto wallets, 70,000 decentralized applications, and 55.5 million users. Those users can now connect to Canton, which CoinGecko ranks among the top 20 chains by market cap.
Canton claims significant institutional throughput. The release said the network processes more than $8 trillion in tokenized assets each month and settles over $350 billion in U.S. Treasuries daily. Separately, RWAxyz data indicates that nearly $330 billion in tokenized RWAs on Canton are 'represented asset value', meaning the chain is used for recordkeeping and operational efficiency rather than on-chain distribution.
WalletConnect CEO Jess Houlgrave described Canton's privacy model as "a requirement for institutions to work at scale."
The announcement lands amid an ongoing industry dispute over Canton's self-description as a "public, permissionless blockchain." As The Defiant has reported, critics contend Canton more closely resembles a permissioned database, with validator admission governed by a committee of incumbent institutions.
Institutional traction has been building. JPMorgan's USD-denominated deposit token is expected to be issued natively on Canton in phases throughout 2026, The Defiant reported. DTCC has also selected Canton to tokenize a subset of U.S. Treasury securities it holds, citing the platform's privacy features, according to earlier coverage.
The broader push for institutional-grade privacy is accelerating across the sector. Boundless, a zero-knowledge proving network, recently integrated with the XRP Ledger to introduce native zero-knowledge proof verification to the Layer 1 for the first time, enabling institutions to build private financial applications on XRPL while maintaining regulatory compliance, The Defiant reported.
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