Inside Canton’s Development Fund as 13 proposals go to a vote

Thirteen Canton Development Fund proposals entered 21-day funding votes on October 16, covering shared vault standards, accounting tools, wallet connections and validator operations.

Several requests tie part of their funding to use by other teams. That makes adoption part of the payment terms, not simply a goal for after the software is built.

The votes are still open. A proposal passes if at least 51% of eligible binding voters vote in favour. Other community reactions are non-binding.

What the Development Fund pays for

The fund supports work with a shared benefit for Canton, including protocol improvements, security, developer tools and reusable infrastructure. External teams and individuals can apply alongside Foundation members and existing contributors. Purely private or proprietary work is outside its scope.

CIP-0082 allocates 5% of future CC issuance to the fund. This reallocates part of the existing issuance schedule; it does not add another 5% on top. Grants are paid in Canton Coin after agreed milestones are accepted. The Foundation coordinates the process, with final funding approval resting with the Technology & Operations Voting Group.

The roadmap through 2028 sets out the network’s priorities. For the September 2026–September 2027 funding period, the Foundation targets 80% of the budget at published requests for proposals, with up to 20% reserved for other community initiatives.

Earlier October milestone payments supported wallet tooling, traffic accounting, software maintenance and developer training. Those payments concerned earlier grants, not this voting batch.

Three proposals with practical uses

Mystic Finance’s proposed vault standard would give compatible products common ways to handle deposits, ownership shares and withdrawals. That could reduce the separate integration work needed each time a wallet supports another vault. Its current request totals up to 2 million CC: 1 million for development and up to 1 million for verified adoption by other teams. Cashen endorsed the effort on October 16 and intends to use the standard. The funding vote does not itself approve a future Canton Improvement Proposal.

Fairmint’s 3.5 million CC Privy toolkit proposal addresses applications that already use Privy for login and embedded wallets. The software would let those applications use Privy-managed keys to authorise Canton transactions. More than half the request is conditional on verified independent MainNet integrations.

Finoa Consensus Services proposes an open-source traffic-purchase app. Traffic is the network capacity validators pay to use. The app would let a CC holder replenish a validator’s traffic balance through a compatible wallet, including when that balance has run out.

Three proposed tools from the October 16 funding votes. Sources: Mystic, Fairmint and Finoa.

How to apply

Check the current submission guidance and requests for proposals (RFPs) before writing.

1. Choose the right route. Match the idea to a published request for proposals, or explain why an individual initiative outside the roadmap deserves funding.
2. Test the need with potential users. Discuss it with the relevant Special Interest Group and teams that would use the work. Include evidence that they need it.
3. Find a Champion. External applicants need a Champion from the Technology & Operations Committee to help the proposal progress. The template permits “Needs Champion” while that person is being found.
4. Set measurable milestones. Explain the work, CC budget, delivery dates, acceptance tests, adoption targets and who will maintain it after the grant.
5. Submit through GitHub. Fork the fund repository, create a branch and add the proposal using the current template. RFP responses belong in the relevant /rfps/ category; individual initiatives use /proposals/. Open a pull request titled Proposal: [project name].

The review process allows revisions before a proposal reaches a vote. Budget availability, technical review and milestone acceptance all matter. Questions about the appropriate route can go to dev-fund@canton.foundation.

A simplified route through the Development Fund review process. Approval is not automatic, and payments follow accepted milestones.

The 13 proposals in this batch

Each item below is a proposal under consideration, not an approved grant or a new product launch.

1. Tokenized vault standard: Common deposit, share and withdrawal rules.
2. Canton Privy SDK: Connect Privy-based applications to Canton signing.
3. Traffic-purchase app: Replenish validator traffic through a wallet.
4. Proof of Liquidity Oracle: Bring liquidity verification into settlement workflows.
5. SV weights on ledger: Record reward rights and beneficiaries on Canton.
6. CIP-56/ERC-20 middleware: Connect Ethereum-style tools with Canton-native tokens.
7. Proof of supply cap: Verify compliance with token supply limits.
8. Merkle attestation sidecar: Let external systems verify selected claims without seeing the full ledger.
9. Canton Event Stream: Send ledger updates to application screens and services.
10. Daml Shell: Publish an existing ledger-investigation tool as open source.
11. LedgerShield: Control application access and record API activity.
12. Veilio data exchange: Share evidence with verifiable access controls.
13. OS Ledger: Turn ledger activity into accounting and audit records.

What would make this useful for Canton?

Shared vault rules and reusable wallet tools could reduce the work needed to connect Canton applications. Instead of funding a separate solution for each team, the fund can support software that several teams use.

Mystic and Fairmint put that idea into their payment terms by linking some funding to use by other projects. After the votes, accepted milestones and independent use will show whether the funded work is delivering that benefit.