Launched in August 2022, Canto is part of the Cosmos ecosystem and offers a native stablecoin, NOTE. 

It aims to “deliver on the promise of DeFi – that through a post-traditional financial movement, new systems will be made accessible, transparent, decentralized, and free.”

Let’s dive in!

Decentralization

Canto aims to become a key DeFi blockchain. Its core goals include:

– Offering zero fees for liquidity providers.

– Developing a platform without centralized features like a foundation and presale.

– Creating a platform that does not derive value by extracting rent from future users.

To date, the project has launched:

Canto is designed to eliminate centralized incentives, while supporting free public infrastructure (FPI). 

There’s no presale, vesting, or venture backers. And unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum and many other Layer 1 blockchains, there’s no official foundation. 

Many DeFi protocols have governance tokens that derive value by extracting rent from future users – Canto does not.

​​As it explains: “Where existing protocols serve their community more similarly to a pay-by-hour private parking garage, Canto’s FPI intends to provide for its community in a manner more akin to free parking on a city street.”

For Canto’s DEX, the protocol can’t be upgraded and will remain forever ungoverned. It will never be able to launch a token or introduce additional fees, “preventing the possibility of a predatory evolution toward rent-seeking behavior’s.”

Canto’s Lending Market is controlled by Canto stakers who have a natural interest in fostering the growth of the ecosystem. 

And, NOTE is a fully immutable token that cannot be created, only borrowed. The automated algorithm behind NOTE self-adjusts its interest rate to minimize volatility. 

Read more about Canto’s decentralization here.

CANTO

CANTO is Canto’s native token. It’s used to pay gas fees for transactions and can be staked with validators to help secure the Canto network.

The initial circulating supply is as follows:

  • 13% for initial contributors.
  • 2% for those who took part in the launch of the testnet.

The remaining total supply is allocated as follows: 

  • 45% for long-term liquidity mining. 
  • 35% for medium-term liquidity mining.
  • 5% for future public goods grants.

The total maximum supply of CANTO inflates over time at a constantly decreasing rate which is voted on by Canto DAO. (Tokens from inflation are distributed to CANTO stakers, in proportion to their stake). Read more here.