2024

Canton

<p><a href="https://x.com/CantonNetwork" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@CantonNetwork</a> moved its MainNet to Canton BFT on Saturday, a new transaction-ordering system. More than 800 nodes made the switch with almost no downtime, according to the project.</p>
<p>Several validators can now order blocks at once, replacing a one-leader setup. Builder <a href="https://x.com/digitalasset" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@digitalasset</a> expects the change to open a path to 2,500+ transactions per second.</p>
<h2 id="what-changed-under-the-hood">What changed under the hood</h2>
<p>On Canton, the synchronizer handles ordering and delivery of messages. It contains a sequencer and a mediator, and it does not execute or validate any transaction. Validation is performed by participant nodes, which confirm only the sub-transactions they are party to.</p>
<p>The public synchronizer is the Global Synchronizer. It uses a two-thirds majority Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus protocol for message ordering and confirmation, according to the Canton Network website. Its infrastructure is run by independent organizations known as Super Validators. The move to Canton BFT changes how that ordering layer produces blocks, shifting from a single leader to several validators working in parallel.</p>
<h2 id="a-pattern-of-live-upgrades">A pattern of live upgrades</h2>
<p>Smooth upgrades have become a selling point for the network. A major upgrade in December 2025 caused network-wide downtime, and MainNet was expected to remain offline for between three and six hours.</p>
<p>Since then, the project has worked to shorten those windows. With Logical Synchronizer Upgrades, live on Mainnet with Canton 3.5, upgraded infrastructure runs in parallel and the switch completes in seconds or minutes, according to Canton Network. Canton says it has upgraded protocol versions four times since its 2024 MainNet launch.</p>
<p>Scale of participation has also grown. The validator set expanded from 24 validators at launch to more than 575 unique validators by October 2025, according to a Canton network report. Saturday's switch involved more than 800 nodes.</p>
<p>Throughput remains the open question. Digital Asset has validated over 100,000 TPS in subnet testing, but that is not comparable to live mainnet load, which stood above 1 million transactions a day as of Q1 2026, according to Dropstab research. The 2,500+ TPS figure is an expectation from Digital Asset rather than a measured mainnet result.</p>
<h3 id="sources">Sources</h3>
<p><a href="https://www.canton.network/blog/logical-synchronizer-upgrades" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Canton Network: Logical Synchronizer Upgrades</a><br><a href="https://www.canton.network/global-synchronizer" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Canton Network: The Global Synchronizer</a></p>

Canton Network swapped its engine while the network kept running

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