This CIP has undergone a re-write. Please see below open for discussion.
CIP-00XX: Add Zenith as an SV of Weight 10
CIP: CIP 00XX
Title: Add Zenith as an SV of Weight 10
Author: Norbert Vadas (norbert.vadas@...), Teemu Paivinen (teemu@...), Heslin Kim (heslin.kim@...), Henri Kamarainen (henri.kamarainen@...)
Status: Draft
Type: Governance
Created: 2025-10-17
License: CC0-1.0
Abstract:
Add Zenith as a Super Validator (SV) of weight 10, with the majority of the weight reachable through growth and adoption KPIs.
Zenith commits to building a solution enabling participants in the Canton Network to run execution environments using arbitrary VMs (EVM, SVM, MoveVM etc.) deployed as Virtual Blockchains (VBs) on Zenith, that can interoperate with Canton subnets, and be verifiably settled on Canton Mainnet.
Motivation:
Based on the Polyglot Canton Whitepaper, key priorities of Canton Network include global composability, privacy, and regulatory compliance. To address these priorities, Zenith proposes Virtual Blockchains (VBs) as a natural extension of Canton’s Polyglot strategy, enabling EVM-compatible environments with atomic transaction confirmations across Daml and EVM-compatible applications.
About the Applicant:
Zenith is a MiCA-compliant, RISC-V-based protocol for deploying Virtual Blockchains (VBs). It is developed by ZkCloud, a spinout of Equilibrium Labs in Helsinki, Finland. Equilibrium Labs has delivered products such as the EUROe stablecoin and worked with the Ethereum Foundation, Fireblocks, Solana Foundation, and Zcash.
Specification:
Zenith empowers Canton with an EVM execution environment (and other VMs in the future), providing atomic transaction confirmations across Daml and other VB-based applications, ZK-proof-based settlement and finality on Canton, and connectivity with ecosystems like Ethereum, Base, and Solana.
VBs run in a trusted execution model where the Canton participant serves dual roles: 1. operating a node on the Canton subnet, and 2. also acting as the sequencer or operator of the VB.
VBs use the following new primitives that will be implemented in Daml:
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The external_call() function: It allows Canton contracts to call a deterministic external, locally running service and receive results from it. It is used to confirm the result of native execution back to Canton for the atomic transaction confirmation, and it can also be used to convey the result of ZK-proof verification.
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A verify() function: It ensures Canton contracts can verify the integrity of VB state roots settled to Canton. It can be implemented in two ways: 1. adding native verification capability to Daml contracts for zero-knowledge proofs, or 2. by utilizing the external_call() function to pass verification results to the Daml contract.
Deliverables for Full SV Reward:
The proposed framework allocates a total potential weight of 10 across two key areas: Integration (4) and Growth and Adoption (6).
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Deliverable
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Acceptance Criteria
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Deadline
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Weight Earned
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MVP
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* Demonstrate transaction processing between Canton and an EVM-based VB
* Implement verify() function in Daml
* Deploy VB on Canton TestNet, interacting with Zenith Testnet
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+ 4 months from CIP Approval
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+1
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Demonstrated composability on Mainnet
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* Deploy VB on Canton Mainnet, interacting with Zenith Mainnet
* Deploy an asset on a VB and compose with a Daml-native stablecoin through an existing Daml-native DEX (assuming such a DEX exists and as agreed upon with the Accountability Committee) into an atomic swap.
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+4 Months from MVP
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+3
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Growth and Adoption Weight - Predicated upon demonstration of Daml to VB composability:
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Deliverable
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Acceptance Criteria
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Deadline
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Weight Earned
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Enterprise Production Deployments
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Any enterprise or institution approved by the Canton Foundation that deploys > $10M of TVL on Canton via VBs.
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Within 12 months of Mainnet delivery
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+ 0.5 per approved party up to a max of +1.5
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Canton Coin Burn Contribution
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All CC Burn attributed to VBs
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Within 12 months of Mainnet delivery
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+ 0.5 per 10M of $CC burn up to a max of +3
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Real-world assets (RWAs) issued
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Over $1 billion in RWAs issued on Canton Virtual Blockchains.
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Within 12 months of Mainnet delivery
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1.5
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Rationale:
Zenith’s proposal ties rewards to measurable outcomes, balancing technical contributions with ecosystem growth. This approach ensures accountability, alignment, and tangible value creation for the Canton ecosystem.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
- 2025-10-17: Initial draft of the proposal.
- 2025-10-28: re-write of the proposal.
