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Zenith

An execution layer that lets Ethereum and Solana developers deploy on Canton without learning Daml. Solidity contracts run in a Canton-native EVM, with results verified back into Daml contracts through the network's own validation.

Permissioned testnet Tier-1 Super Validator Helsinki Placement corrected 2 / 7 substance, issue 02 Last verified 22 Jul 2026
Evidence profile 15 items assessed · 22 Jul 2026
Correction · 22 July 2026

I scored this project wrong in Quadrant issue 01.

Issue 01 recorded Zenith's confirmed substance as a live mainnet deployment plus official ecosystem status. Verification performed on 22 July 2026 does not support the first of those, and finds that a separate item scored as merely announced has since been confirmed. Both are stated here rather than left to be discovered.

Live mainnet deployment was scored as confirmed and should not have been. Zenith's own launch material from March 2026 describes mainnet as targeted for Q2 2026, with the project in permissioned testnet having completed CIP-0091 Milestone 1. The architecture milestone announced at launch was explicitly demonstrated in a controlled test environment. Under the rubric's own rule, that item scores zero until a mainnet deployment is observable.

Infrastructure role was scored as announced and is now confirmed. Canton's own blog describes Zenith as its EVM and SVM application layer and a Tier-1 Super Validator. That is a primary Canton source rather than a Zenith claim, so the item scores.

The confirmed substance total is unchanged at 2 of 7, but it is composed of different items than the ones published. The Quadrant record is never edited after publication, so issue 01 stands as it shipped and issue 02 will carry this correction with a note. This page reflects the corrected position from today.

// what I verified

Claims, and where each one stands.

Every claim on this page carries its evidence tier. Nothing is smoothed over, and nothing a project told me is presented as something I checked.

Confirmed: verifiable in a primary source right now
Announced: stated by a party, not yet observable
Speculated: inference or third-party characterisation
Supplied by the project
Confirmed

An EVM execution environment built on Reth, fully Ethereum-equivalent at the execution layer: same runtime, compatible RPC interface, standard libraries and contract standards.

docs.zenith.network
Confirmed

Atomic composability with Canton is implemented through an external_call() primitive written in Daml, following Canton's native two-step validation rather than adding new trust assumptions.

docs.zenith.network
Confirmed

A Tier-1 Super Validator on Canton's Global Synchronizer. Confirmed by Canton's own publication, not only by Zenith.

canton.network blog, 23 March 2026
Confirmed

Emerged from stealth on 5 March 2026, operating from Helsinki, Finland.

Launch release, 5 March 2026
Confirmed

Founders Heslin Kim and Teemu Paivinen are publicly named.

Third-party project profile
Confirmed

CIP-0091 Milestone 1 is complete.

Reported 23 March 2026
Announced

Mainnet was targeted for Q2 2026. That quarter has closed and no mainnet launch announcement was found as of 22 July 2026. The project was in permissioned testnet at last verifiable report.

Launch release; reporting 23 March 2026
Announced

Throughput of over 100,000 TPS with sub-second finality is stated on the project site. This describes a design target for an environment not yet in production.

zenith.network
Announced

An SVM execution environment for Solana developers is described as coming after the EVM.

zenith.network; docs
Announced

Interoperability with the broader Ethereum ecosystem via solutions such as Chainlink or LayerZero is described as planned.

docs.zenith.network
Speculated

Digital Asset's Head of Network Strategy is quoted by name endorsing the integration. An endorsement in a launch release is not by itself a counterparty relationship, so I do not score it as one.

Launch release; Canton Catalyst read

// canton quadrant

Placement, as corrected 22 July 2026 and carried into issue 02.

Scored on the published seven-item substance checklist. This grid shows the corrected position of 22 July 2026, not the composition published in issue 01. See the correction at the top of this page.

Live deployment: permissioned testnet, not mainnet (corrected)
Named institutional counterparty: endorsement only
Official ecosystem status: named by Canton
Infrastructure role: Tier-1 Super Validator (corrected)
Legal entity with named leadership: founders named, entity not
Named backers: none found
Independent audit: none found
CONFIRMED SUBSTANCE 2 / 7 · TOKEN INTENT 1 (STRUCTURAL HINTS) · SAME TOTAL, DIFFERENT COMPOSITION, CARRIED IN ISSUE 02

Scored in Canton Quadrant issue 01, the permanent archived record of that placement.

// what would move it

Catalysts.

Each one names what I are watching and what would prove me wrong.

Mainnet goes live Q2 2026 target, now passed

This is the item that was scored wrong and the one that decides the project's substance. Everything else Zenith has confirmed is real infrastructure standing; mainnet is what turns it into a usable execution layer.

Resolves when: a Zenith EVM environment is live on Canton MainNet and observable. Falsified if: no mainnet by 31 December 2026, or the target is withdrawn.
A named institutional counterparty Open

Zenith sits alongside Nasdaq, DTCC and Chainlink as a Super Validator, which is standing rather than a counterparty relationship. A named institution actually deploying through Zenith would move confirmed substance from 2 to 3 of 7.

Resolves when: a named institution is confirmed deploying or transacting through a Zenith environment.

// what I could not verify

Gaps.

These are findings, not omissions. I looked and state what I found.

SOUGHT

Current mainnet status. The Q2 2026 target has passed. No launch announcement, and no status page giving a current phase, was found on 22 July 2026.

SOUGHT

Legal entity. Zenith Network operating from Helsinki is as far as public sources go. No registered entity name or jurisdiction detail was found.

SOUGHT

Security audit. No published third-party audit of the EVM environment or the Daml primitive was found.

SOUGHT

Verified X handle. No handle for this project appears in my approved handle list, and none was confirmed during verification. Links here are limited to the site and docs for that reason.

// open to the project

Sections Zenith can fill.

These stay empty until the project supplies them. Anything supplied is labeled as supplied, dated, and never rendered as something I verified. Declining changes nothing else on this page.

Awaiting the project

Mainnet status

Current phase and a date, so the catalyst above can carry one.

Awaiting the project

Legal entity

Registered name and jurisdiction.

Awaiting the project

Audit

Any third-party assessment of the EVM environment or the external_call primitive.

Awaiting the project

Institutional deployments

Any named counterparty building or transacting through Zenith.

// corrections

Correction log.

22 July 2026. Quadrant issue 01 placement corrected on this page: live mainnet deployment removed from confirmed substance, infrastructure role added to it. Confirmed total unchanged at 2 of 7. Issue 01 stands as published and issue 02 will carry the correction with a note. Full detail at the top of this page.