Grayscale Research has identified Canton as one of the blockchain networks likely to benefit from the growth of tokenized capital markets, arguing that institution-focused infrastructure could have an early advantage as traditional finance moves more activity onchain.
In a report published April 29, Investing in the Tokenization Megatrend, Grayscale said tokenization is still in its early stages but could become a major shift in market infrastructure over the next decade. The firm estimates the current market is led by tokenized U.S. Treasuries, at about $15 billion, and commodities, at about $5 billion, compared with a securities market it puts at roughly $300 trillion.
The report names Ethereum, Solana, Canton, Avalanche, BNB Chain and Chainlink among the protocols best placed to benefit from that transition. Grayscale separates the market into open networks, institution-centric networks and hybrid models, with each architecture offering different trade-offs.
Canton is presented as a leading institution-centric network, a category built around privacy, permissioning and compliance controls. Grayscale said those features may be important in the early phase of adoption because regulated institutions often cannot expose transaction details, counterparties or position data on fully transparent ledgers.
That gives Canton a different role from open networks such as Ethereum and Solana, which offer broader liquidity, developer activity and composability but are transparent by default. Grayscale said those open networks may become more competitive over time as privacy and identity tools mature.
Source: Grayscale Research, Artemis data, 7-day moving averages through April 28, 2026.
The report points to several recent Canton developments, including institutional activity involving Nomura and Mizuho, DTCC’s selection of Canton as an initial supporting network for its tokenization service under the SEC’s No-Action Letter framework, and the addition of Visa, Circle and Apollo Global as Super Validators.
Grayscale also cites RWA.xyz data showing Canton with $329.7 billion in represented tokenized assets as of April 26. The report separately says Canton leads blockchains in total capital onchain, with more than $348 billion in tokenized asset value.
The firm’s view is not that tokenization will settle on a single network. Instead, it expects different architectures to lead at different stages. Institution-centric networks such as Canton may benefit first as regulated financial institutions look for privacy and operational familiarity, while open networks could capture more activity later if they solve privacy and compliance challenges at scale.
For Canton, the significance of the report is its placement within a wider institutional tokenization thesis. Grayscale is treating Canton not as a niche application chain, but as one of the core networks competing to support tokenized capital markets.
