Canton BYOV Support

Until now, companies holding and sending Canton Coins with Dfns wallets relied exclusively on our shared validator infrastructure. With this release, you can now register and connect your own validator node to Dfns, and manage it alongside all your other blockchain integrations.

Why BYOV for Canton?

Canton is unlike traditional blockchains. It doesn’t offer public RPC access or permissionless participation. Instead, every interaction with the network must pass through a validator node, i.e. designated participant that acts as a transaction gateway, key manager, and fee sponsor.

In the context of the Canton Network, a validator runs applications (like Canton Coin) and receives rewards. Every validator manages a private key, defines a unique party hint (e.g. dfnsdev1, used to derive wallet addresses), and maintains its own Canton Coin balance. This validator setup isn’t just infrastructure, it is a wallet.

Until now, we operated shared validators on behalf of our clients. These nodes allowed wallet creation, fund reception, transaction processing and more. However, they came with two limitations: a fixed party hint and a cap of 100 “external party” wallets per validator. BYOV removes these constraints on Canton and puts you in full control.

What you gain with BYOV on Canton

• Your validator, your party hint: Deploy with your own validator ID and address namespace.
• Unlimited scaling within Canton’s limits: Create up to 100 wallets per validator, and spin up more validators as needed.
• Fee control: Wallet actions can draw transaction fees directly from your validator’s Canton Coin balance.
• Security boundaries: Store validator keys and credentials in secure MPC- or HSM-based environments compliant with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 controls. 
• Network-native architecture: Integrate directly with the Canton model, instead of adapting to Dfns’ shared setup.

How BYOV works on Canton

After registering your validator with Dfns, wallet creation and transaction signing work just like they do with any other Dfns-supported chain. Except now, the Canton validator you bring is powering it.

1. Register Your Validator: Use the new endpoints to add or manage a validator. You’ll need to provide validator credentials and the validator’s Auth0 configuration.
   

POST /networks/canton/validators

{
  "name": "my validator",
  "kind": "Custom",
  "validator": {
    "auth0": {
      "url": "https://YOUR‑AUTH0‑DOMAIN",
      "clientId": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
      "clientSecret": "YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET",
      "audience": "https://canton.network.global"
    },
    "url": "https://myvalidator.example.com"
  }
}

2. List Validators: Retrieve all configured validators, including shared Dfns nodes and your own:

GET /networks/canton/validators

3. Create Wallets: Use the standard wallet creation flow, specifying the validator to associate with it by adding a validatorId field. Dfns handles external party setup automatically, with fees paid from your validator balance.

POST /wallets

Behind the scenes, wallet addresses are linked to validators based on party hint matching, handled entirely within the Dfns API infrastructure.

Shared vs. custom validators

We now support two validator modes:

• Shared Validators: Operated by Dfns, suited for testnets and quick integrations
• Custom Validators (BYOV): Fully controlled by you, ideal for production-grade use on Canton

Validator credentials are encrypted at rest.

Operational notes

• Each validator can support up to 100 external-party wallets, as per Canton’s current network recommendations.
• When you’re nearing capacity, Dfns can help you monitor usage and guide validator scaling.
• We’re exploring validator health checks and automated alerts as part of future enhancements.

How to get started today

1. Request to become a Canton validator
2. Deploy your validator with the Canton Coin app
3. Configure Auth0 and prepare your node credentials
4. Use Dfns' /networks/Canton/validators endpoints to register
5. Start creating wallets and routing transactions through your own node

BYOV unlocks full control over your Canton footprint, letting you scale your wallets, customize your address space, and integrate with a validator you own and operate. As the Canton Network evolves, we’ll keep building around its capabilities bringing deeper indexing, health monitoring, and validator orchestration tools. If you're ready to run Canton your way, we're ready to support you. Head to dfns.co or contact sales@dfns.co.