Zenith launches as the EVM layer for Canton Network, merging Ethereum’s developer ecosystem into Wall Street’s blockchain

As JPMorgan, DTCC, and Nasdaq accelerate tokenization on Canton, the blockchain processing $9T+ in monthly volume, Zenith opens the network to hundreds of thousands of Solidity developers for the first time.

HELSINKI, March 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zenith today emerged from stealth as the Ethereum execution environment natively integrated with Canton Network, advancing real-world capital markets initiatives onchain. The announcement arrives at an inflection point for institutional blockchain, just weeks after the DTCC announced its strategic partnership with Canton, and as the Clarity Act spikes to a 90% likelihood of being signed in April on Polymarket.

Zenith allows developers to deploy unmodified Solidity applications that atomically interact with Canton's institutional infrastructure, removing the need to learn Daml, Canton's proprietary language, for Ethereum-based projects. Zenith has already validated the EVM layer by completing the first milestone even before launch, demonstrating atomic transactions between Canton Network and Zenith EVM in a controlled test environment. SVM/Solana compatibility is planned to follow.

“Zenith’s addition of atomically composable EVM, and planned SVM, execution expands Canton’s capabilities in a way that can increase network utility,” said Eric Saraniecki, Head of Network Strategy at Digital Asset. “It enables developers to deploy Solidity applications that can interact atomically with Canton-based infrastructure, bringing established financial building blocks to institutional-grade rails already operating at significant real-world volumes.”

For institutions operating on Canton’s regulated and privacy-preserving infrastructure, Zenith opens access to the rapidly evolving Ethereum application ecosystem. Financial applications such as lending protocols, automated market coordination systems, and structured yield strategies are overwhelmingly developed on Ethereum, where developer tooling and open-source libraries allow new financial logic to be built and deployed quickly. Through Zenith, Canton participants can selectively adopt these applications while maintaining the privacy, compliance, and governance requirements of institutional markets.

Canton has solved the hardest problems in institutional blockchain: privacy and compliance at real-world scale. Its network now processes over $9 trillion in monthly volume and moves more than $350 billion in assets daily. DTCC is tokenizing U.S. Treasuries on Canton. Nasdaq is connecting Calypso to enhance collateral mobility. BNY and Lloyds Bank are issuing tokenized deposits. 

EVM compatibility accelerates the convergence with crypto and DeFi. The financial logic powering DeFi (lending, yield, automated market coordination) was built on Ethereum. But Ethereum's public ledger is incompatible with regulated institutions' privacy requirements. Canton has the rails; Ethereum has the toolkit. Until now, there was no way to combine them.

Zenith is that connection. Developers build with familiar tools like Hardhat and MetaMask to deploy directly onto Canton's institutional infrastructure, while users never feel a difference. EVM transactions on Zenith settle atomically to Canton; this is a native execution environment, not a bridge.

"Canton has proven that there is substantial demand from institutions for blockchain infrastructure designed specifically for their needs”, said Teemu Päivinen, CEO and Co-Founder, Zenith. “What has been missing is EVM compatibility that allows application developers to integrate with the leading institutional blockchain platform. Zenith was built to close that gap, allowing any Ethereum project to launch on Canton without needing to modify their existing systems."

The company is not a newcomer to the Canton ecosystem. The Zenith team brings decades of expertise across blockchain infrastructure, VC, and product innovation. Zenith was promoted to Tier-1 Super Validator status on the Canton Network with a consensus weight of 10, equal to DTCC and Nasdaq. Of the 50+ Super Validators on Canton, nearly all are major financial institutions. Zenith is the first technology company to achieve that standing and sits on multiple governing committees, such as the Ecosystem Fund, where Co-Founder and CBO, Heslin Kim, was recently appointed. 

They support substantial TPS volume with sub-second confirmations, horizontal scaling via sharding, and revenue-share fee models. Interoperability with the Ethereum ecosystem is enabled through Chainlink and LayerZero integrations.

The non-stablecoin RWA market is projected at $30 trillion by 2030, with Canton positioned to capture the majority of institutional flows. Canton is well-positioned to take the lion’s share of the addressable market by decade's end.

About Zenith

Zenith is the EVM and SVM execution layer for Canton Network, the institutional blockchain processing $9T+ in monthly volume with partners including JPMorgan, DTCC, Nasdaq, SBI Holdings, Broadridge, and Goldman Sachs. As a Tier-1 Super Validator with maximum consensus weight, Zenith enables Solidity and Rust developers to build on institutional-grade rails for the first time, without bridges, without rewrites, and without compromising Canton's privacy or compliance architecture. MainNet launch is targeted for Q2 2026.

Contact Details:
julia@zenith.network

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