Tokenizing $3.6T of real world assets on Canton Network, with CEO Yuval Rooz

Lex chats with Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset,
about the company’s transformation from its early institutional
blockchain experiments to launching the Canton Network - a
purpose-built, privacy-enabled smart contract platform designed
for financial markets. Rooz shares insights into why Digital
Asset was inspired by Bitcoin’s financial principles rather than
its technical assumptions, highlighting the importance of
rethinking blockchain infrastructure rather than replicating
flawed legacy models. He also unpacks the hard lessons from
high-stakes projects like the Australian Stock Exchange overhaul,
emphasizing why large-scale financial infrastructure must evolve
incrementally to succeed. Finally, the conversation dives into
Canton’s unique tokenomics, where 70% of block rewards go to the
developers and users who create economic activity on the network,
challenging traditional validator-centric models and aligning
incentives more fairly for long-term ecosystem growth.


 


Notable discussion points:


 


1. Canton’s innovative tokenomics: Unlike Ethereum, where
validators capture most of the rewards, Canton allocates 70% of
block rewards to developers and applications, creating
sustainable alignment.


 


2. Lessons from ASX: Rooz reflects on the failed ASX blockchain
migration, advocating for iterative upgrades rather than “big
bang” infrastructure transformations.


 


3. True tokenization: Rooz critiques superficial on-chain IOU
models, asserting that real tokenization must place the asset’s
books and records natively on-chain to unlock the benefits of
DeFi and composability.


 


MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION


 


Topics: Digital Asset, Canton Network, DRW, ASX, Ethereum,
Bitcoin, Plaid, DAML, fintech, web3, tokenization, digital
assets, financial infrastructure, DeFi, onchain


 


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TIMESTAMPS


 


1’28: From Wall Street to Web3: Yuval Rooz on Founding Digital
Asset and the Birth of the Canton Network


 


4’29: Rethinking Blockchain: Rejecting Ethereum’s Assumptions to
Build a Better Financial Infrastructure


 


8’18: Getting Banks to Say Yes: Bridging Blockchain Innovation
with Regulatory Reality


 


12’43: Blockchain at Scale: Lessons from the ASX Project and Why
Incremental Innovation Beats Big Bang Deployments


 


21’27: Agile by Design: How Canton Aims to Bring Continuous
Delivery to Decentralized Blockchain Networks


 


23’50: Beyond the Hype: Why Crypto Needs Pragmatism, Not Just
Vision, to Integrate with Financial Institutions


 


27’08: From DAML to Canton: Building Scalable, Privacy-First
Infrastructure for Real-World Finance


 


30’52: Redefining Tokenization: Real On-Chain Finance at Scale
with Trillions in Assets on Canton


 


35’34: Solving the Tokenization Gap: Bridging Legacy
Infrastructure with Decentralized Architecture


 


39’13: Seeding Web3 with Real Assets: Canton’s Strategy to Power
DeFi with Institutional-Grade Infrastructure


 


41’33: Custom Rules, Shared Rails: How Canton Balances
Decentralization with Regulatory Flexibility


 


44’30: Aligning Incentives: How Canton’s Tokenomics and Fair
Launch Redefine Value Creation on Chain


 


49’35: The channels used to connect with Yuval & learn more
about Digital Asset and Canton Network


Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment
advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH
BLUEPRINT LTD.


Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella


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