'Trust Me, Bro': Why Canton Is No More Private Than JPMorgan Is Private

Summary

Mert Mumtaz and Joe Andrews argue that Canton's private stablecoin transactions rely entirely on trusting a centralized operator, no different from banking with JPMorgan. Jarrad Hope suggests Canton could serve as early market adoption and hopefully transition to real cryptographic privacy.

• Mert Mumtaz: Canton is not a privacy leader; its guarantees are just counterparty trust, achievable without crypto.
• Joe Andrews: Canton uses a 'trust me bro' sequencer model where you trust the operator not to sell your data.
• Laura Shin asks what happens to Canton's institutional users long-term.
• Jarrad Hope: Canton could be seen as early market adoption that brings institutions in, but they must recognize risks and transition to stronger cryptographic commitments.
• Jarrad Hope notes that retrofitting privacy onto an existing chain is difficult due to tech debt, but still sees value in more approaches and surface area for adoption.