How to Move Value Between Canton and Ethereum Without a Bridge

A guide to moving tokenized value between a permissioned network and a public chain. Updated September 2026.

Organizations and individuals increasingly hold tokenized assets in two kinds of places at once. Some sit on permissioned networks built for regulated finance, like Canton. Others sit on public chains, like Ethereum. DTCC's July production trades ran across both a private network and a public one, which is the shape of the market now. At some point value has to move between the two, and the way that move usually happens is the least safe part of the entire system.

Value moves between Canton and Ethereum without a bridge by using a non-custodial atomic swap. Both legs settle together or neither settles, no intermediary holds the asset in between, and each counterparty is screened before anything moves. There is no locked pool for an attacker to drain.

The connection between chains is called a bridge, and bridges are where the money goes missing. Chainalysis found that attacks on bridges accounted for 69% of all cryptocurrency stolen in 2022, roughly $2 billion across 13 hacks in that year alone.¹ What follows is why bridges fail, what a compliance function needs that a bridge cannot provide, and how a non-custodial atomic swap moves the same value instead.

Why This Matters

Cross-chain settlement is becoming a routine need for organizations and individuals rather than a crypto curiosity. As tokenized assets spread across more than one network, the question stops being whether to hold them on-chain and becomes how to move them between chains without taking on custody risk, counterparty risk, or the code risk that has drained bridges for years. The mechanism a company uses to move value now belongs to its operational risk.

How a Typical Bridge Works, and Why It Breaks

A standard bridge uses a design called lock-and-mint. You send an asset to the bridge on the first chain, the bridge locks it, and it mints a stand-in token on the second chain. What arrives is not the asset. It is a claim on the asset, backed by whatever sits in the bridge's locked pool.

That locked pool is the weakness. It holds everything users have sent across, which makes it a single, concentrated target. If an attacker finds a flaw in the bridge's code or its validators, the whole pool can be drained at once, and the stand-in tokens on the other side are left backed by nothing. The largest crypto thefts on record have followed this pattern.

For someone moving small amounts, that is a risk to weigh. For an organization or individual moving regulated assets at scale, it is close to disqualifying, because the failure is not gradual. The pool is either safe or emptied.

What the Task Actually Requires

Beyond the security of the mechanism, an organization or individual moving value between chains carries two requirements that no bridge design addresses. Both have to be met before the first transaction, not after it.

Requirement 1: Knowing the counterparty. A company has to know who is on the other side of a transaction. It has to screen that party, document the screening, and keep an audit trail its compliance team can stand behind. A generic bridge offers none of this. It moves tokens between anonymous addresses and asks no questions, which is the opposite of what a compliance function requires.

Requirement 2: Keeping possession of the asset. Any design where an intermediary takes possession of the asset partway through, even briefly, creates exposure to that intermediary failing, being hacked, or being unable to complete the transfer. For assets of that size, that exposure has to be removed at the source rather than insured against.

The Alternative: A Non-Custodial Atomic Swap

A non-custodial atomic swap removes the pool and the custody handoff. Instead of locking an asset with an intermediary and issuing a claim, it exchanges value directly between the two parties on the two chains, and it settles atomically.

Atomic means both legs complete together or neither does. There is no in-between state where one party has delivered and the other has not, so neither side is ever exposed to the other failing partway through. Non-custodial means no intermediary ever takes possession of the asset during the swap, so there is no pool to drain and no third party that can fail while holding the value. The two properties work together: because settlement is atomic, there is no need for anyone to hold the asset in the middle, and because no one holds it, there is no honeypot to attack.

Add counterparty screening to those two properties and both requirements are met inside the same transaction. The Interstice Digital Cross-Chain Swap Engine implements this model for movement between Canton and Ethereum. The three steps below are the order it runs in.

Step 1: Screen the Counterparty Before Any Value Moves

The first step happens before any value moves. Both counterparties are screened through KYC and KYB, so the identity of the person or business on the other side is established up front rather than assumed. Wallets are screened too, sanctions screening runs on both sides, and transactions are monitored.

Review the counterparty at the individual, business and wallet level, then accept it or reject it before committing. This is the step a generic bridge skips entirely, because a bridge moves value between anonymous addresses and never asks the question.

Step 2: Settle Both Legs Together

Request a quote for the direction, the pair and the amount. A verified liquidity provider returns a firm rate with fees, network fee and an estimated arrival time, and the quote holds for a 30-second countdown, so the amount at confirmation is the amount paid. Confirm with a passkey. Both legs lock at the same moment and settle together, or the swap does not happen.³

If a swap cannot complete, the locked assets return to their owners automatically after the timeout period. Interstice Digital never takes possession of the assets at any point. Signing infrastructure is built with MPCH, a multi-party computation design in which a full key never exists in one place. Value moves between the two parties directly, so there is no intermediary pool holding the assets and nothing for an attacker to drain. Funds arrive on the far chain with a settlement proof that documents the swap and includes a full fee breakdown.²

Step 3: Connect a Wallet and Choose the Assets

Connect an existing wallet through WalletConnect rather than adopting a new one.³ One leg of every swap is always Canton, where the supported tokens are USDCx, Canton Coin and ETH. On the external side, Ethereum (USDC and ETH), Solana (USDC), Base (USDC and ETH), Hyperliquid (USDC) and Robinhood Chain (USDC and ETH) are live.² A company holding value on Ethereum can move it into Canton to take part in Canton-based activity, or move value back out, through the same screened process.

Onboarding takes about ten minutes: business details, identity verification with a government ID and a selfie, a Canton wallet created in the app, an external wallet, and a passkey. Identity verification typically completes within minutes.²

Where Interstice Digital Fits

The Cross-Chain Swap Engine is the product that runs the process above. The product page states it in one line: Non-custodial, atomic swap infrastructure built for organizations that need to know who's on the other side. The screening line is equally plain: Swap with compliance-screened counterparties on both sides, verified at the individual, business and wallet level. Every swap settles directly between counterparties.²

After the swap, the company has more than a completed transaction. It has a screened counterparty and a record of the movement, which is what a compliance function needs to demonstrate that the transaction was handled correctly. The design is meant to support the compliance workflows a company already operates. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine is recognized as a Featured App on Canton, and the product page sits at intersticedigital.io/cross-chain-swap.²

FAQ

Why are blockchain bridges risky?

The locked pool of assets behind a bridge is a concentrated target. A flaw in the bridge's code or its validator set can drain the pool, leaving the stand-in tokens on the other chain unbacked. Chainalysis found that bridge attacks accounted for 69% of all cryptocurrency stolen in 2022.¹

Can I swap Canton Coin for USDC without a bridge?

Canton Coin is one of the supported tokens on the Canton leg, and one leg of every swap is always Canton. The swap settles directly between the two counterparties rather than through a locked pool, so nothing is minted as a stand-in on the far chain. The pairs available at any given moment are listed on the product page.

What happens if one side of a cross-chain swap fails?

Neither side completes. Settlement is atomic, so both legs complete together or the swap does not happen, and if a swap cannot complete, the locked assets return to their owners automatically after the timeout period.

Does a non-custodial swap still meet compliance requirements?

A swap mechanism does not by itself satisfy an organization's obligations. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine screens both counterparties at the individual, business and wallet level before anything settles, monitors transactions, and produces a settlement proof, which is the documentation a compliance function works from. Whether a specific transaction may fall within applicable authorization frameworks depends on the facts, and that assessment belongs to the organization and its counsel.

Which chains and tokens settle today?

One leg is always Canton, with USDCx, Canton Coin and ETH. The external leg is live on Ethereum (USDC and ETH), Solana (USDC), Base (USDC and ETH), Hyperliquid (USDC) and Robinhood Chain (USDC and ETH). Wallets connect through WalletConnect.²

The Takeaway

The move from single-chain to multi-chain finance is already happening, and it has made cross-chain settlement a core function for organizations and individuals. A bridge concentrates assets in a pool and asks the market to trust it. A non-custodial atomic swap removes the pool, screens the counterparty first, and settles directly, so the failure that has cost the industry billions has nowhere to happen. For an organization or individual, the design they choose to move value with is itself a risk decision.

Disclaimer

This post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, financial, investment, or compliance advice of any kind and should not be relied upon as such. The regulatory environment described here can change quickly. All companies and individuals should conduct their own independent research and retain qualified legal and compliance counsel before taking any action. Interstice Digital is not a registered broker-dealer or money transmitter.

About Interstice Digital

Interstice Digital is a U.S.-based digital asset infrastructure company building trading and settlement solutions for compliance-minded individuals and organizations. Interstice Digital is a wholly owned subsidiary of Everyrealm Inc., backed by a16z Crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed, Galaxy, Brevan Howard, and Liberty City Ventures.

Media Contact: press@intersticedigital.io

Move between Canton, Ethereum and USDC, without sacrificing compliance. Get Started at intersticedigital.io/cross-chain-swap.

Footnotes

¹ Chainalysis, Cross-Chain Bridge Hacks Emerge as Top Security Risk, chainalysis.com, August 2022. Bridge attacks accounted for 69% of all cryptocurrency stolen in 2022, roughly $2 billion across 13 hacks that year.

² Interstice Digital, Cross-Chain Swap Engine, intersticedigital.io. Product overview, including atomic and non-custodial settlement, KYC and KYB counterparty screening, supported networks and tokens, onboarding, and Featured App status on Canton.

³ Interstice Digital, Cross-Chain Swap Engine documentation, gitbook.io. Product documentation for the swap flow and wallet connection.