Yuval Rooz has a clear message for the smart contract industry: If you want to be seen as the future backbone of global finance, you need to demonstrate actual cash flow.
“Many have attributed significant value to these networks based on their potential,” stated Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset and co-founder of the Canton Network. “However, the real business activity is often vastly different from those valuations.”
The Canton Network provides privacy-focused blockchain infrastructure intended to link financial institutions and their tokenized assets through interoperable, permissioned applications.
“The challenge isn’t specific to one chain; a lot of smart contract networks were designed primarily for retail trading and speculation, not for the institutional financial processes,” Rooz explained in an interview with CoinDesk.
“When assessing metrics like sustained economic output, recurring income, and real-world asset engagement, there’s frequently a gap between what’s valued and what’s actually utilized financially. Creating frameworks for global institutions demands a distinct approach to privacy, compliance, and interoperability,” he added.
Rooz, who has a background at DRW and Citadel before launching Canton, clarified that he is not anti-crypto. He differentiates between assets such as Bitcoin, viewed as a store of value, and smart contract platforms that claim to revolutionize financial systems.
“Assets like gold and silver gain value through market assignment,” Rooz noted. “Bitcoin is categorized as an asset class, while smart contract networks present themselves as foundational financial systems. If that’s their claim, then these systems should be widely adopted by financial institutions.” In his view, however, that adoption is lacking.
