Development Fund Proposal Submission
Proposal file: [/proposals/2026-07-o1Labs-canton-evm-merkle-attestation-bridge.md(../blob/main/proposals/2026-07-o1Labs-canton-evm-merkle-attestation-bridge.md)
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Summary
This proposal builds the technical foundation for a round-trip Merkle-attestation bridge between Canton and EVM chains, letting Canton-native assets (CIP-56/CIP-112) move to Ethereum and back. We anticipate that the foundation technology will benefit use cases beyond a bridge, wherever external representation of the state of a Canton subnet is desired. At its core is a reusable Merkle ACS Sidecar primitive: any Canton participant can adopt the same commitment scheme for proof-of-reserves, compliance attestation, or other reporting needs, independent of whether they ever bridge an asset. This first proposal delivers the foundation for a round-trip bridge, an open-source Sidecar and contract set, and a demo UI. The proposal also briefly previews additional features that should be considered for a second phase of work before the foundation is used for an operational bridge.
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Checklist
- [x] Proposal file added under
/proposals/ - [] Milestones and funding amounts defined (Milestones are defined, funding TBD)
- [x] Acceptance criteria included
- [x] Alignment with Canton priorities described
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Notes for Reviewers
- This proposal is submitted as Draft and currently has no SIG champion — we're actively seeking one and welcome introductions from Committee members.
- Scope is intentionally narrow: a single-operator MVP bridge proving the Merkle-commitment primitive and bridging Canton native assets to an EVM and back, on LocalNet. Multi-party quorum, DevNet/MainNet deployment, and network hardening are explicitly out of scope here and flagged as follow-on proposals once this MVP shows adoption traction.
