What is Canton? Where does it sit in a DLT application?

Questions
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1

Hi, there are lots of buzz going around the word “Canton” and same in my head as I’m unable to get a clear understanding of Canton and it’s actual use.

  1. Is Canton as whole a new blockchain network?
  2. Does Canton interoperate between domains only? or does it interoperate between DLTs as well?
  3. How is Canton different from Daml Integration and Daml Connect available in DAML1.0?
  4. Does Daml Integration and Daml Connect still exist or deprecated?
  5. Is daml-on-fabric by any way related to Canton?
  6. Can Canton be implemented over a daml-on-fabric?
  7. Difference between daml-on-fabric and Sextant?

@Gary_Verhaegen can you help here?

2

I’m afraid this one is a bit too far from what I think I know well enough to answer confidently. I have raised with people more familiar with this internally.

3

This may answer some of your questions if you have seen this: Daml 2.0 Canton Technical Primer [2022] - YouTube

Additionally, we have a live webinar on April if you can join us (it will be recorded as well): We have launched Daml 2.0!

4

Hi @Hem-M

Apologies for the delay! I will try to answer the questions which I can answer:

  1. Canton is a new (privacy enabled) distributed ledger but it’s not a blockchain. However, multiple connected Canton ledgers form a network and this is the open-business network talked about, e.g., here. If you haven’t read it yet, I would also recommend this introduction to Canton. In a way, you can also think of Canton as a family of Daml drivers.
  2. However, Canton can integrate with multiple blockchain technologies such as Ethereum or Fabric by having a domain backed by these. In this way, a Canton network can consist of a domain A which uses Fabric and of a domain B which uses Ethereum. So, you can interoperate between different DLTs through interoperating between multiple domains (see also the graphic from here).
  3. Have you seen the release notes of Daml 2.0.0? There is a section that tries to answer exactly this question - let me know if you still have questions after that.
  4. Daml Integration (I believe our product name was Daml Driver) and Daml Connect are disappearing as distinct products. Instead we just have Daml (which includes everything that was in Daml Connect, e.g., the developer tooling, or Daml Drivers which are now in Canton which is included in Daml).
  5. Daml-on-fabric is not related to Canton. It is essentially an old Daml driver (integration) that is now deprecated and superseded by the Canton Fabric integration.
  6. No - rather instead of using daml-on-fabric you would instead use Canton with the Fabric integration.

Hope this helps!
Best,
Arne

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