Canton Coin & Traffic

Overview

Every Global-Synchronizer transaction costs traffic, and Canton Coin (CC) is the native token you convert into traffic credits. CC is implemented via Splice (the open-source synchronizer infrastructure). As an app developer, you must keep your validator's traffic budget funded so users' transactions don't fail.

What CC is for

• Buying traffic — convert CC → traffic credits so your validator can submit transactions
• Validator rewards — validators earn CC for operating infrastructure
• Application rewards — app providers earn CC based on their app's usage (see App Rewards)
• Governance — Super Validators stake CC for synchronizer governance

⚠️ CC is not private. CC balances and history are publicly visible via the network's scan service. Your application's contract data is private to entitled parties — CC is not.

Traffic: the fee model

You don't pay CC per transaction directly. Your validator holds a traffic budget (credits); each transaction deducts credits based on size/complexity. Two steps:

1. Top up — convert CC → traffic credits (adds to the budget).
2. Consume — each submitted transaction deducts credits.

Traffic credits are non-transferable, per-validator, and cannot be converted back to CC. Cost depends on transaction size (more contract data / parties = more) and network conditions.