Introduction

This guide is designed to help you understand and effectively utilize the application’s capabilities to create/mint tokens, delete/burn tokens, transfer them, and track ownership records. We will explore various workflows from a business perspective and provide workflow examples with diagrams to illustrate each process.

Utility Overview

The Registry utility is a core application for asset tokenization, leveraging Canton and Daml technologies to securely register and manage assets. It provides the foundational infrastructure needed to tokenize assets, ensuring transparency, immutability, and decentralized control.

Traditionally, asset registries are closed systems accessible only to operators. Users interact indirectly through messaging, relying on operators to perform actions and receiving periodic reports. To maintain local access to their data, users often replicate information internally, necessitating frequent reconciliation with the central registry.

In contrast, the Canton-ledger-based Registry provides users with direct access and control over their tokenized assets. This system allows users to perform actions—such as transfers, deposits, or withdrawals—directly through their local participant node, eliminating the need for operator intermediation. This direct access is crucial for asset tokenization, as it enables users to interact with their digital assets seamlessly and securely.

Furthermore, the utility empowers users to delegate specific actions to third-party applications, facilitating more advanced workflows and use cases. For instance, a third-party Delivery versus Payment (DvP) application could use party delegation to settle asset movements across multiple registries atomically, making it ideal for complex tokenized transactions.

The local participant node also ensures that users have a consistent, real-time view of the registry, thanks to the Canton protocol’s guaranteed synchronization. By storing data locally with assured consistency, users no longer need to maintain separate data stores or engage in ongoing reconciliation with the central registry.

As a core application for asset tokenization, the Registry utility enables the creation, management, and transfer of digital assets with the security and transparency necessary for modern decentralized systems. This makes it an essential tool for any organization looking to leverage blockchain technology for asset management.

Use Cases

• Streamlined Collateral and Margin Management

  A hedge fund uses tokenized assets as collateral for its trading strategies. These assets are tokenized and registered on the Canton Network, allowing the hedge fund to adjust its collateral in real time as market conditions change. The instant, atomic settlement of tokenized assets reduces the time and cost associated with margin calls and enhances the fund’s operational efficiency.

• Self-Sovereign Asset Control

  A private investor holds a diversified portfolio of tokenized stocks and commodities on the Canton Network. The investor has full control over their assets, managing them directly from their participant node. They can transfer, sell, or lend their tokenized assets without needing to go through a broker, giving them greater autonomy and reducing transaction costs.

• Cross-Application Composability

  A registered tokenized asset on the Canton Network is used as collateral in a decentralized lending platform. The asset’s token can be seamlessly integrated and used in other DeFi applications, like automated market makers or yield farming protocols, allowing the holder to leverage their assets across multiple financial products and services, increasing the asset’s utility and potential returns.

• Enhanced Liquidity in Secondary Markets

  A real estate investment trust (REIT) tokenizes its property assets on the Canton Network. Investors can buy and sell fractions of these properties as tokens on a secondary market, allowing for near-instant transactions. This dramatically increases the liquidity of these traditionally illiquid assets, making it easier for investors to enter and exit positions quickly.

Business Roles

The Registry Utility distinguishes between four business roles, namely:

Role	Description
Operator	Maintains Daml models and application configuration Provides various API endpoints for users, e.g. Token Standard endpoints Onboards Providers to the Registry Utility according to predefined criteria
Provider	Onboards Registrars to the Registry Utility according to predefined criteria Can provide automation services Example: Financial Infrastructure Provider, Tokenization Provider
Registrar	Maintains ownership records for assets on behalf of Issuers Maintains criteria for holding, minting, and burning asset tokens Example: SS&C, CSDs, custodians
Holder	Any ledger party can send, receive, mint, and burn tokens, provided they fulfill the predefined criteria set by the registrar. Example: Institutional investors or token issuers

Note

A ledger party can take on one or more roles in the registry.

Governance via Credentials

The Registry Utility makes use of Credentials issued through the Credential Utility to verify a party’s eligibility to perform specific actions within the Registry Utility. These credentials govern access and permissions for roles such as Provider, Registrar, and Holder, ensuring that only qualified parties can interact with the app.

For example, to mint or transfer tokens, a party must possess the appropriate Credential contract that satisfies the predefined credential requirements for that action.

Note

Actions (such as transferring an asset) may be configured to require no credentials.

How to interact with the Registry Utility

Any ledger party can interact directly with the Registry Utility using its DARs:

• To onboard as a Provider, submit a request to the Operator. If you meet the Operator’s Provider Credential requirements (which might be none), your request may be accepted. Upon approval, you receive a ProviderService contract instance for operational workflows. As a Provider, you are responsible for onboarding Registrars and maintaining the Credential requirements for Registrar onboarding.

• To onboard as a Registrar, submit a request to a Provider. If you meet the Provider’s Registrar Credential requirements (which might be none), your request may be accepted. Upon approval, you receive a ProviderService contract instance for operational workflows.

• As a Holder, you don’t onboard with any party. Your ability to transfer, mint, or burn assets is determined by whether you meet the Credential requirements specified for each asset. If no credentials are required for a particular action (such as transferring an asset), you can perform that action without any credentials.

Note that only Providers and Registrars require onboarding to the Registry Utility. The onboarding process follows a propose-accept workflow. For detailed steps, see onboarding.

Attention

The HolderService contract has been deprecated and will be disabled in a future release.

The Asset Model

A holding contract instance represents the ownership of a certain number of units of an instrument by an owner at a registrar. Whereas an instrument defines what a ledger party holds (the rights and obligations), a holding defines how much (i.e., the amount) of an instrument and against which ledger party (i.e., a registrar) the instrument is being held. It’s crucial to note that the economic terms of an asset (instrument) are distinct from its representation in a holding. This segregation enables centralized management of instruments (e.g., lifecycling, KYC requirements) and facilitates the reuse of instruments and associated logic across various entities (e.g., custodians). Moreover, it prevents data redundancy by eliminating the need to replicate instrument data and logic in every holding contract.