HSBC and BNP Paribas are now formally part of the Canton Network‘s governance body, the Canton Foundation. The addition of the two global systemically important banks (G-SIB) brings the membership to 30, following the inclusion of Goldman Sachs, Moody’s and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in March. Alongside existing member BNY that brings Canton’s G-SIB membership count to four.
Both HSBC and BNP Paribas operate their own enterprise blockchain networks using Canton technology from Digital Asset. But these are still relatively siloed. Canton, a public network with a set of permissioned validators, enables far greater interoperability. That means the digital assets on their permissioned networks could potentially be traded on Canton-linked trading venues, used as collateral on another network or transactions could be settled with Canton based digital money. Unlike other public chains, the Canton Network protects privacy.
One of the other Canton members that should be of interest to these two banks is Tradeweb. The company operates several marketplaces, including one of the biggest bond trading venues. Both BNP Paribas and HSBC continue to host digital bond issuances on their blockchains. BNP Paribas hosted the first EU sovereign digital bond for Slovenia last year, with the €30m bond redeemed shortly afterward as part of EU settlement trials. More recently, the Luxembourg State Treasury issued a €50 million six month note on HSBC’s Orion platform, following an issuance of over $750 million for Hong Kong last year.
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