Builders, it’s time.

There has never been a better time to build on Canton. Whilst other networks distribute all rewards to infrastructure providers and early investors, Canton’s tokenomics ensure that the majority of rewards flow to applications over time. As an application builder and user, you’re essentially part of a continuous grants system where you are rewarded in line with the value that you create on the network. 

Canton Network opens up the possibilities for building composable onchain applications on regulatory grade rails for global finance. Builder’s momentum has been rapidly growing, driving 15M+ transactions using Canton Coin in their flows each month, and the leading names in crypto markets are collaborating on Canton to deliver market transformation at scale. Canton’s thriving and growing ecosystem includes a diversified pool of tokenized assets, liquidity providers, data and analytics platforms, and more - everything needed to support institutional-grade global finance onchain, at scale.

But how you get started as a builder depends on your goals. Whether you’re a developer looking to start learning Daml, or an experienced architect looking to build Canton applications, there’s a pathway for you. 

In this post, we explore five pathways to start building on Canton.

1. Learn Daml: The Canton native smart contract language

Who is it for? Developers new to Daml language.

Daml is the domain-specific smart contract language used to define the workflows on Canton Network. It’s designed to express complex financial workflows with precision, privacy, and interoperability. 

Developers can begin their journey by completing a Daml certification course and following step-by-step guided quests.

• Daml Fundamentals: To help developers ramp up quickly, the Daml Fundamentals Certification Path is a curriculum that leads to a foundational-level certification exam and a capstone project. This path prepares you to build a simple Daml application and culminates in a certification exam. Get started here. 

• Daml Contract Developer: Advance your learning further with the Contract Developer certification path, which prepares the more experienced developer to build Daml-based applications. Learn how to build applications that are scalable, performant, and reliable. The course culminates in a certification example. Get started here.

• Canton Core Academy: Canton Network recently partnered with AngelHack, a global leader in developer education, to launch Canton Core Academy - a step-by-step developer course for new and experienced developers. The academy offers interactive and engaging learning to help developers build institutional-grade finance applications on Canton Network. See learn & earn quests here. 

2. Build applications from scratch on Canton

Who is it for? More experienced developers who have already learned Daml and are ready to take the next step - build apps on Canton Network.

To accelerate your development journey, Digital Asset introduces Quickstart which can save you weeks of development time and help you to confidently launch your first Canton-based app. 

What is Quickstart?

Quickstart is a powerful developer toolkit designed to enhance your developer onboarding experience, taking you from LocalNet experimentation to MainNet deployment with ease. It provides developers a hands-on way to learn, build, and test Canton applications. 

Quickstart is designed to:

• Introduce developers to the CIP-56 Canton Token Standard - equivalent to Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, but upgraded for institutional workflows. The token standard ensures seamless composability between wallets, assets, and registries, enabling best-in-class user experience and interoperability across the network.
• Guide you through building a full Canton application - start with the Licensing App template and evolve it into a fully operational application. For example, you can create a token-swap app that allows users to exchange Canton Coins for other tokens.
• Provide you with powerful development, build, and test tools - everything you need to support you through the Canton Network software development lifecycle. This includes a local version of the Global Sync with Canton Coin to enable faster testing cycles.

Learn more about Quickstart here.

“Quickstart is probably the most useful artifact that Digital Asset has produced that we have used at Thetanuts. Initially, we were dreading the learning curve of setup - environment configuration, tech stack decisions, testing infrastructure, etc. With Quickstart, we could ‘skip’ a lot of the learning curve and we had a full Canton dev environment running in hours and we went from zero to running custom contracts with a custom UI in one day instead of multiple weeks/months. We were also able to use QS as a way to learn more about the architecture and specifically how participant nodes interacted with each other in an app. “ Thetanuts Finance

3. Bring digital assets onto Canton

Who is it for? Tokenization Platform Providers who are looking for an out-of-the-box solution to bring digital assets onto Canton, fast.

Since the launch of MainNet, organizations have been using Digital Asset’s Canton Network Utilities, a powerful suite of building blocks designed to accelerate the launch of tokenization platforms, applications and assets on the Canton Network - no need to build from scratch. The utilities implement Canton’s CIP-56 token standard.

Digital asset issuers or registrars, and their clients, use the platform to bring assets onto Canton Network, fast. With standardized components for Asset Tokenization and Verifiable Credentials, it enables seamless end-to-end lifecycle management of digital assets on-chain, and composable workflows across participants and applications. Get started with Digital Asset’s Canton Network Utilities here.

4. Build composable applications on top of the Canton Network Utilities

Who is it for? Developers who have already mastered Daml and Quickstart and are ready to create composable applications on top of the Canton Network Utilities.

Tokenization platform providers can gain a competitive edge by building and composing with existing applications in the network or adding additional modules, including pre-built workflows for collateral management, trading, settlement, financing, and more. 

By building composable applications with the pre-built modules, developers can quickly enable transformative use cases, including novel trading apps, 24/7 financing flows, on-chain collateral with automated margin, or privacy-enabled institutional-grade stablecoin payments.

Learn more about how to build composable apps on top of the Canton Network Utilities here.

5. Integrate with Canton Network 

Who is it for? Exchanges and wallet providers who want to integrate with the Canton Network to bring token standard assets onto their platform.

For wallets, integrating with Canton through the CIP-56 standard means gaining direct access to a deep and diversified liquidity pool - ranging from on-chain treasuries and stablecoins to tokenized money market funds and wrapped Bitcoin. 

By adopting CIP-56, wallet providers can support:

• Native institutional workflows with built-in privacy and compliance
• Composable registries, assets and applications
• A unified user interface where users can view their entire portfolio across Canton assets and track transaction history 
• Canton Coin - the network’s native utility token

Developers can accelerate integration with Digital Asset’s Wallet SDK, which simplifies building custom wallet experiences and reduces time-to-market for integrating with CIP-56 token standard. Get started with Wallet SDK here.

For exchanges, integrating with Canton Network through the CIP-56 standard enables the trading of Canton Coin and other Canton Network based tokens. Using the Canton Network token standard as the foundation, exchanges can support deposits and withdrawals of all Canton Network tokens, and earn app rewards for all Canton Network tokens. Get started with the Exchange Integration guide here. 

Ready to Start Building on Canton? 

Take advantage of the latest features in Canton today and start creating highly composable applications for 24/7 on-chain capital markets and payments with institutional-grade privacy:

• See different ways to participate and get started here
• Explore Canton Network ecosystem by verticals here
• Accelerate your Canton application development with Quickstart here

Or actively contribute to the open source community on github.