Onboard USDT0 to Canton — Outcome-Linked SV Weight (Max 10)

Please see this CIP open for discussion. As a reminder even with a sponsor and endorser it will be in cip-discuss for 3 days to allow full discussion before going to vote. 

Number: TBA
Layer: Governance / Ecosystem
Title: Onboard USDT0 to Canton — Outcome-Linked SV Weight (Max 10)
Author(s): W Eric Saraniecki
Discussions-To: TBA
Type: Governance
Status: Draft
Created: TBA
Requires: —
Replaces: —
License: TBA

Abstract

This CIP proposes awarding up to Weight 10 for onboarding USDT0 (a USD stablecoin issued by the USDT0 issuer) to Canton MainNet, with rewards tied to (i) an MVP go-live, (ii) earlier readiness (time-based acceleration), and (iii) on-chain adoption.

• +2 for completing a production-ready MVP within 180 days.
  
  

• Up to +4 acceleration if MVP readiness occurs as early as Day 60 (linear down to 0 at Day 180).
  
  

• Up to +4 adoption bonus at +0.5 per $1.5B notional transacted on Canton (cap +4).
  
  

Motivation

USDT-class stablecoins are a foundational liquidity leg for market makers, venues, and end users. Native availability on Canton (with private settlement and institutional-grade controls) is expected to:

• Accelerate liquidity, collateral utility, and payment use-cases on Canton.
  
  

• Enable institutional flows (custodians, exchanges, OTC) alongside retail access (wallets, DEX).
  
  

• Reduce onboarding friction for future assets and DeFi-like protocols that reference a USD unit.
  
  

Specification (updated)

#	Milestone	Scope (what must be true)	Target window	Weight (base → max)	Acceptance / Evidence (TWG-verifiable)
D1	USDT0 (Bridged) — MVP Ready (Production)	Bridged, non-native USDT0 live on Canton MainNet with: (a) lock/mint or custodial bridge in production; (b) issuer/bridge ops runbooks, SLOs, observability; (c) programmatic APIs/SDKs; (d) ≥1 venue route (custodian or exchange) tested end-to-end; (e) public docs for integrators.	≤ Day 180 from CIP approval	+1.0	Evidence pack: mainnet contract/asset refs; bridge attestation & custody details; SLO dashboard; runbook; E2E test TXIDs (deposit/lock → mint/receive → transfer → redeem/unlock) including one venue; docs URL.
D1a	Bridged MVP — Time Acceleration	Earlier MVP readiness (bridged). Linear reward between Day 60 and Day 180.	Day 60 → Day 180	0.0 → +2.0	Formula: Accel_bridged = max(0, min(1, (180 − d) / 120)) × 2.0, where d = days from approval to D1 acceptance (timestamped by TWG).
D2	Bridged Adoption Bonus	USDT0 (bridged representation) notional transacted on Canton (mints, redeems, transfers, DvP cash legs) counted once per obligation; exclude wash/loopbacks; methodology disclosed.	Rolling 12-month window starting D1 acceptance	0.0 → +2.0	+0.5 per $1.5B verified bridged-USDT0 notional (cap +2.0 ⇒ $6B). Evidence: monthly attestation (data sources, filters, dedup rules) + sampled TXIDs.
D3	USDT0 (Native) — Ready on Canton	Native USDT0 (issuer-minted on Canton; no bridge representation) is live with: (a) issuer mint/burn keys on Canton; (b) policy controls/circuit breakers; (c) APIs/SDKs; (d) ≥1 venue route tested E2E; (e) public docs.	≤ Day 90 after LayerZero (L0) go-live for USDT0↔Canton	+1.0	Evidence: native token contract refs; issuer key ceremony/attestations; E2E test TXIDs; docs URL. Trigger definition: “L0 go-live” = mutually agreed L0 route is publicly live for USDT0↔Canton.
D3a	Native — Time Acceleration	Earlier native readiness after L0 go-live; linear from Day 10 (max) to Day 90 (zero).	Day 10 → Day 90 after L0 go-live	0.0 → +2.0	Formula: Accel_native = max(0, min(1, (90 − d) / 80)) × 2.0, where d = days from L0 go-live to D3 acceptance. Gives +2.0 at ≤10 days, 0 at 90 days.
D4	Native Adoption Bonus	USDT0 (native) notional transacted on Canton (mints, redeems, transfers, DvP cash legs) counted once per obligation; exclude wash/loopbacks; methodology disclosed.	Rolling 12-month window starting D3 acceptance	0.0 → +2.0	+0.5 per $1.5B verified native-USDT0 notional (cap +2.0 ⇒ $6B). Evidence: monthly attestation (data sources, filters, dedup rules) + sampled TXIDs.
Cap	Aggregate Weight Cap	Total maximum across D1, D1a, D2, D3, D3a, D4 is 10.0.	—	—	TWG tracks tranche mints; no weight beyond 10.0. Bridged and native adoption pools are distinct (bridged counts toward D2; native counts toward D4).

Notes

• Counting rules (D2/D4): Count each economic obligation once; exclude internal bookkeeping and rapid self-wash loops. The issuer (or agreed analytics provider) supplies a monthly methodology + sample TXIDs; TWG may request independent attestations.
  
  

• “Venue route tested” means at least one custodian or exchange completed a live deposit/withdraw flow with USDT0 on Canton (bridged or native, as applicable).

Rationale

• Outcome-linked incentives: Rewards are tied to real delivery (MVP) and real usage (adoption), aligning emissions with network value.
  
  

• Time-value of readiness: A steep acceleration for earlier delivery recognizes the outsized ecosystem impact of having USDT0 sooner.
  
  

Simple adoption metric: A transparent $-notional count encourages broad usage across venues and apps without dictating product design.

SV Reward Mechanics:

• An extraBeneficiary PartyID associated with the ‘escrowed’ Super Validator will be setup by the Foundation, or another SV node operator approved to provide SV rewards escrow services, with an SV Weight at the maximum earnable weight.

  • The Applicant is responsible for coordinating the process of setting up the escrowed weights with the GSF and the operator of the SV node.
  • The Applicant is responsible for all costs associated with the operation of the escrow SV
  • The escrow SV will NOT mint rewards on a block by block basis
  • All escrow SV rewards will go to the Unclaimed Rewards pool

• ⅔ of the Super Validator Operators will update their configurations to allow the escrowing SV node to host the full weight to be earned by the given Super Validator

• Applicant is required to present proof of successful completed milestones to the Tokenomics Working Group

  • Applicant is required to present a calculation for number of Canton Coin it should earn for meeting the requirements of the milestone

• If the Tokenomics Working Group agrees the milestone has been met and agrees with the calculation, an announcement will be sent via the Tokenomics-Announce mailing List

  • The GSF will update the extraBeneficiary to an active PartyID controlled by that Super Validator.
  • ⅔ of Super Validator Operators will then assign a portion of the Unclaimed Rewards to be minted by the Applicant’s Validator, based on the calculation approved by the Tokenomics working group.

• If any milestones and associated rewards are not achieved by the deadline

  • Applicant will be notified they have not met a deliverable by the GSF
  • Remaining SV Weight assigned to the extraBeneficiary SV will be removed from the GSF node configuration, and the total SV weight of the GSF SV node will be reduced by the same amount by a vote of the Super Validators.
  • The Tokenomics Working Group will make a recommendation to the SVs on what to do with the Unclaimed Rewards

Copyright

• This CIP is licensed under CC0-1.0: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

Changelog

• 2025-10-28: Initial draft of the proposal.