Inside the Zodia Solutions Ecosystem: Canton Network On Why Capital Mobility Starts With Custody

Financial institutions still face major constraints in how they can use and move assets

Financial institutions operate some of the most sophisticated risk and treasury management functions in the world. Yet the infrastructure underneath them often forces capital to sit still.

Settlement cycles measured in days. Market hours that close while global business continues. Separate systems for cash, securities, and collateral that do not talk to each other. The result is an industry where institutions routinely hold excess liquidity, over-collateralise positions, pre-fund accounts, and leave high-quality assets sitting idle rather than putting them to productive use.

The cost of this is measurable in trapped capital, in the margin drag of over-collateralisation, in the opportunity cost of assets that could be working but are not. For a bank, every hour that collateral sits in one system when it is needed in another represents real economic loss.

The challenge is harder to solve than it looks, because financial markets depend on many independent participants operating together. Enabling 24/7 capital mobility requires assets, cash, and market infrastructure to interoperate seamlessly, while preserving the privacy, control, governance, and compliance that regulated institutions depend on. No single institution can solve this alone. It requires a network.

What Digital Asset and the Canton Network make possible

Canton Network, originally created by Digital Asset, is a public blockchain purpose-built for institutional finance. It enables financial institutions to move assets, cash, and collateral in real time, 24/7, while preserving the privacy, control, and compliance that regulated markets require.

Canton fundamentally enables real-world assets to be tokenised in a way that is fit for institutional markets, preserving the permissions, controls, and investor protections expected of traditional securities. Tokenised securities such as US Treasuries, equities, or structured products can exchange atomically with tokenised deposits and stablecoins, unlocking high-quality assets for use as collateral across institutions while maintaining the data protection and independent controls that compliance demands.

This is not theoretical. Leading institutions are already active on Canton. DTCC is bringing tokenised US Treasuries to the network. Goldman Sachs, HSBC, BNP Paribas, and Société Générale operate Canton-native tokenisation platforms used to issue bonds and structured products globally. JP Morgan, Lloyds, LSEG, and HSBC are bringing tokenised deposits to Canton. Institutional-grade stablecoins including USDCx are finding increasing utility within the network’s privacy-preserving framework.

As tokenised assets and cash increasingly exist and exchange on the same interoperable network, entirely new capital markets workflows become possible. Intraday repo and securities financing, where over 50 market participants have already participated in on-chain flows on Canton in the past year. Treasury management, where institutions can optimise liquidity, reduce idle cash, and improve returns while maintaining immediate access to funds. Programmable margin and collateral workflows that support more automated initial and variation margin flows. And institutional payments and settlement using tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins, delivering faster, always-on settlement with full transaction privacy.

For a bank, this translates into a fundamentally different operating model for capital. Balance sheets can be optimised in real time rather than reconciled after the fact. Collateral can be mobilised across counterparties and jurisdictions instantly, rather than sitting locked in a single position until a settlement cycle completes. Liquidity and financing become available around the clock, not just during market hours. The result is more productive capital, new client services, and new revenue opportunities for the institutions that participate.

“Institutional capital continues to be constrained by legacy settlement windows and siloed systems. Canton and the Zodia Solutions ecosystems give financial institutions the ability to securely hold and move assets, cash, and collateral in real time.”

Aurelie Dhellemmes,
Global Head of RWA Sales, Digital Asset

Why custody is where this belongs

Capital mobility is only as valuable as the control framework around it. An asset that can move anywhere, instantly, is a powerful capability. An asset that can move anywhere without proper governance is a risk.

Custody is the layer that resolves this tension. It is where the institution maintains control over its assets while enabling them to be deployed across payments, collateral, and financing workflows around the clock. It provides the signing authority, the approval workflows, and the audit trail that regulators and auditors require. Without institutional-grade custody infrastructure connected to the network, an institution can see the opportunity but cannot safely participate in it.

For capital mobility to work at an institutional level, custody cannot be limited to safekeeping. It must drive the entire asset lifecycle: issuance, collateral management, and real-time settlement. The custodian becomes not just the place where assets are held, but the orchestration layer through which they are put to work.

This is the structural connection between Canton Network and the Zodia Solutions ecosystem. Canton provides the network where institutional assets move. Zodia Solutions provides the custody infrastructure that gives institutions the control, governance, and compliance framework to participate safely.

“Capital mobility without custody is capital without control. Canton gives institutions the network. Zodia Solutions gives them the infrastructure to use it on their own terms.”

Anoosh Arevshatian,
Chief Product Officer, Zodia Custody

Where this is heading

Over the next few years, the expectation is that networks like Canton will become the connective tissue of institutional finance, linking the core building blocks of the system: assets, cash, and market infrastructure. The foundations are already in place. The focus is now on operationalising and scaling them.

What that looks like in practice: traders financing and settling positions in real time. Asset managers mobilising portfolios across financing and collateral markets without waiting for settlement cycles. Corporate treasurers moving seamlessly between cash, tokenised deposits, stablecoins, and yield-bearing assets, optimising liquidity in real time instead of around cut-off times and banking hours. Issuers creating assets that can be financed, pledged as collateral, traded, and settled across a connected financial ecosystem. Investors gaining access to institutional-quality assets and liquidity through more efficient and programmable market infrastructure.

For banks, the implication is that the institutions which connect to this infrastructure early, with the custody and governance framework to participate safely, will be the ones positioned to capture the economics of real-time capital markets. Those that wait will face the same transition under more competitive pressure and less favourable terms.

Zodia Solutions and Digital Asset share a view of where this converges: a financial system where capital moves as freely as information, where settlement is continuous rather than periodic, and where custody infrastructure is the trusted plumbing that makes institutional participation possible. Finance, finally flowing the way it should.

 

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About Canton Network

Canton is the only public, permissionless blockchain purpose-built for institutional finance – uniquely combining privacy, compliance, and scalability. With participation from leading global financial institutions and network governance independently facilitated by the Canton Foundation, Canton enables real-time, secure synchronization and settlement across multiple asset classes on a shared, interoperable infrastructure. The open-sourced network is powered by its native token, Canton Coin, and supports decentralized governance and collaborative application development. It’s the proven link between the promise of blockchain and the power of global finance, making finance flow the way it should.

Learn more at: canton.network

 

About Zodia Solutions

Zodia Solutions is an institutional digital asset infrastructure platform that enables financial institutions to design, deliver and grow digital asset services through trusted, bank-grade technology and infrastructure.

Explore Solutions

 

Further reading

Recent activity on Canton Network referenced in this article:

• DTCC tokenisation service
• Société Générale FORGE digital bond on Canton
• HSBC tokenised deposit on Canton
• Canton industry working group on collateral mobility

 

This article is for information only and does not constitute financial advice or a solicitation of any kind. Tokenised asset capabilities and network participation are subject to applicable regulatory requirements.