CIP-0121: Shinhan Financial Group Super Validator Milestone

1. Summary

This CIP proposes granting Shinhan Asset Management participation as a Super Validator (SV) with a maximum Weight of 10.

Given the strategic importance of Shinhan Financial Group to the Korean financial system, its participation is expected to advance institutional adoption of the Canton Network in Korea, support the development of regulated capital-markets use cases, and contribute meaningfully to network governance and growth.

This CIP establishes an umbrella, milestone-based program through which Shinhan Asset Management can earn SV Weight of up to 10 by delivering initiatives that materially advance the Canton ecosystem. These initiatives are expected to involve relevant Shinhan Financial Group affiliates, including Shinhan Bank, Shinhan Securities, and Shinhan Fund Partners.

This program contains confidential commitments to the ecosystem. Those commitments and milestones have been agreed with the Tokenomics and Accountability Committees and will be made available to the public when appropriate.

• Total Earnable Weight: 10 (maximum)

• Accrual Destination: Escrow, consistent with existing SV escrow mechanics

• Confidentiality: The Accountability Committee will review the milestones and inform the Super Validators when they have been met

2. Motivation

Shinhan Financial Group is one of South Korea's leading financial institutions, with businesses spanning banking, asset management, securities, fund administration, and other regulated financial services. Its scale, institutional relationships, and experience operating within Korea's financial and regulatory framework position it to play an important role in expanding the Canton Network into the Korean market.

Korea is a significant global capital market with growing institutional interest in tokenized assets, programmable settlement, and regulated blockchain infrastructure. Shinhan's participation as a Super Validator would help connect the Canton ecosystem with Korean financial institutions, market infrastructure, issuers, investors, and regulators.

Through Shinhan Asset Management and relevant Shinhan Financial Group affiliates, the proposed program is intended to support regulated node operations, tokenized securities and real-world assets, KRW-denominated settlement assets, fund administration, market-infrastructure interoperability, and production activity on Canton. These efforts could create durable infrastructure and regulated access that benefit the broader Canton ecosystem rather than any single participant.

Shinhan Financial Group has also demonstrated its commitment to the ecosystem through an investment of US$8 million in Digital Asset's 2026 strategic funding round. This participation, together with the proposed milestone program, reflects a broader commitment to supporting the development and institutional adoption of the Canton Network.

3. Deliverables & Milestones

The specific deliverables, milestones, deadlines, verification requirements, and associated Weight allocations for Shinhan Asset Management have been agreed privately with the Canton Foundation's Tokenomics and Accountability Committees.

The milestone program includes initiatives intended to advance regulated market access, institutional infrastructure, tokenized asset issuance and settlement, KRW-denominated cash-leg deployment, production network activity, and broader adoption of Canton within Korea.

• Milestone Review Process: The Accountability Committee will confirm whether Shinhan Asset Management has successfully met each milestone.

• Reward Mechanism: Upon confirmation and completion of the applicable governance process, rewards associated with achieved milestones will be released from escrow and the corresponding SV Weight may be assigned on a go-forward basis.

• Confidentiality: Shinhan's specific commitments, milestones, timelines, regulatory materials, and commercial details will remain confidential until the Canton Foundation and Shinhan determine that disclosure is appropriate.

4. SV Mechanics

• An extraBeneficiary PartyID associated with the escrowed Super Validator will be established by the Canton Foundation, or by another SV node operator approved to provide SV rewards escrow services, with SV Weight equal to the maximum earnable Weight.

  • The Applicant is responsible for coordinating with the Canton Foundation and the operator of the SV node to establish the escrow arrangement.

  • The Applicant is responsible for all costs associated with operating the representative SV.

  • The representative SV will not mint rewards on a block-by-block basis.

  • All representative SV rewards will accrue to the Unclaimed Rewards pool.

• Two-thirds of the Super Validator Operators will update their configurations to allow the escrowing SV node to host the full Weight available under this CIP.

• The Applicant is required to present proof of successfully completed milestones to the Tokenomics Working Group.

  • The Applicant must also present a calculation of the amount of Canton Coin it should receive for satisfying each milestone.

• If the Tokenomics Working Group agrees that a milestone has been met and approves the calculation:

  • An announcement will be sent through the Tokenomics-Announce mailing list.

  • Two-thirds of the Super Validator Operators will assign the approved portion of the Unclaimed Rewards to be minted by the Applicant's Validator.

  • Two-thirds of the Super Validator Operators will update their configurations to allow the Applicant to assume the corresponding portion of SV Weight on a go-forward basis.

• If a milestone and its associated rewards are not achieved by the applicable deadline:

  • The Canton Foundation will notify the Applicant that the deliverable has not been met.

  • The remaining SV Weight associated with the unmet milestone will be removed from the applicable SV operator configurations.

  • The Tokenomics Working Group will make a recommendation to the Super Validators regarding the disposition of the related Unclaimed Rewards.

• The Applicant is subject to CIP-0045, Super Validator Operating Requirements.

  • If the Applicant has been awarded SV Weight greater than 2.5, it must operate its own Super Validator within six months after crossing that threshold.

  • The Applicant's SV will join the network with Weight 0 and may assume additional Weight as the milestones under this CIP are completed and approved.

Copyright

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

Changelog

• 2026-08-14: Initial draft published