Why locking CC is important for every Canton featured app
You’ve built the app, now comes the part most teams don’t expect.
The product is ready.
Your PartyID is set up.
Your application is running on a Canton validator.
Mainnet is around the corner.
You have users waiting to come in.
Then you discover there is one more thing standing between your application and Featured App status:
You need to lock Canton Coin.
Not a small amount either.
For a Non-Issuer Featured App, the requirement is 5M CC per PartyID.
For an Asset Issuer Featured App, it is 25M CC per PartyID.
At first, this can look like a simple capital requirement.
But there is a bigger story behind it.
Why does Canton require the lock?
Featured App status gives an application access to a share of the Canton Coin reward pool.
Canton Coin is minted every round, roughly every 10 minutes, and around 62% of minted CC is distributed to Featured Applications.
The system has also evolved.
With CIP-104, the reward mechanism moved away from simply measuring activity markers and toward traffic spend generated by application activity.
So the idea is straightforward:
The applications contributing meaningful traffic to the network participate in the rewards generated around that activity.
But Canton doesn't want applications to receive those benefits without making a commitment to the network.
That's where CIP-116 comes in.
The lock is the commitment.
But here's where things get interesting
A project doesn't necessarily need to own 5M or 25M CC on its balance sheet to satisfy the requirement.
This is where the Canton ecosystem has created another layer around Featured Apps:
CC locking markets.
Instead of buying and immobilizing millions of dollars worth of CC, an application can source a delegated lock from a CC holder.
The supplier locks the CC for the application.
The supplier keeps custody of the CC.
The application receives the required locking commitment.
And the two sides agree on the economics of the arrangement.
This is why we built Cashen.
Think of Cashen as the bridge between two sides
On one side, you have applications that want to become Featured Apps.
They need locked CC.
On the other side, you have CC holders who are willing to lock their coins and earn yield.
Cashen brings those two sides together through bilateral locking arrangements.
The Featured App doesn't have to put the entire 5M or 25M CC requirement on its own balance sheet.
The supplier doesn't have to give up custody of the CC.
Instead, both parties agree to the terms of the lock.
That can include:
The amount of CC
Fixed APR
Minimum lock period
Recall terms
Breach terms
Interest accrues continuously and settles monthly.
The structure is closer to an institutional OTC arrangement than a traditional pooled DeFi product.
And that distinction matters.
Now imagine you're the project founder
You have your application ready.
You know you're a Non-Issuer, so your requirement is 5M CC.
You could buy the CC yourself.
But that means taking 5M CC from your treasury and locking it.
That capital is no longer available for hiring, development, liquidity, marketing or other growth initiatives.
You could borrow it.
But then you introduce collateral and counterparty risk.
Or you could find a CC holder willing to provide a delegated lock.
That's the problem Cashen tries to solve.
Capital doesn't have to be the thing that prevents a good application from becoming Featured.
The lock is also more than an approval checkbox
This is where projects need to think differently.
The lock isn't something you arrange once, get approved, and forget about.
It is a continuing requirement.
If a supplier's term ends or they decide to exit, the application needs replacement liquidity.
Otherwise, its Featured App status could become exposed.
That's why access to a network of CC suppliers matters.
A replacement should not require starting from zero every time.
Cashen's model includes substitution provisions designed around this problem.
The goal is very understandable,
Keep the lock alive.
And the lock is only one part of the journey
A project still has to earn its place as a Featured App.
It needs the right PartyID structure.
It needs to be deployed on a Canton validator.
It needs to be at Mainnet or within the Foundation's required window.
It needs a standalone Super Validator sponsor.
It needs to explain its product, users and expected network activity.
It needs to disclose its audit posture.
It needs to explain what activities will generate rewards.
And eventually, it has to face the Tokenomics Committee.
The Committee isn't simply asking:
Can you build?
They're also asking:
Will this application create meaningful activity on Canton?
That distinction is important.
Featured App status is tied to the economic activity an application brings to the network.
Then comes the part many teams forget
Getting Featured isn't the finish line.
It's the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the network.
After the application has been live on MainNet for a month, it needs to report its early performance.
How many transactions are happening?
How does usage scale?
What does activity look like per round?
How many customers are using the application?
How does each use case generate rewards?
And then the reporting continues quarterly.
In other words:
Canton doesn't just want to know what you promised to build.
It wants to see what you actually built.
So where does Cashen fit?
Cashen doesn't replace the Featured App application.
It doesn't decide whether an application deserves Featured status.
It solves a specific bottleneck inside the process:
the CC locking requirement.
For an application that qualifies for Featured App status but doesn't want to immobilize 5M or 25M CC from its own treasury, delegated locking can make the requirement significantly more capital-efficient.
As of July 2026, Cashen onboarded more than 55 apps and over 300M CC were locked in active deals.
That tells an important story about where the Canton ecosystem is heading.
As more applications compete for Featured App status, the infrastructure around those applications becomes just as important as the applications themselves.
The bigger picture
Canton's Featured App model creates a direct relationship between three things:
Applications.
Network activity.
Canton Coin.
Applications bring users and transactions.
That activity generates traffic spend.
Featured Apps participate in the reward pool.
And the CC lock creates the commitment required to access that system.
Cashen sits in the middle of one of the most important pieces of that equation:
making the locking requirement accessible to applications that may not want to tie up millions of CC from their own treasury.
So if you're building on Canton and thinking about becoming a Featured App, don't wait until the application is ready before asking:
Where will the CC lock come from
?
Because on Canton, the lock isn't just another box to tick.
It's the commitment that opens the door to the Featured App economy.
