Independent official prices for tokens on Canton — so funds can be built on them in days, not months.
Like CF Benchmarks for Bitcoin ETFs: the exchanges and lenders that use a price sign it together, and we check what backs each token. The issuer never sets its own price.
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Tokens trade all day, every day. Nobody independent publishes their official price.
A fund cannot hold an asset without a price it can trust. For tokens, that price does not exist yet.
To build one ETF today
A firm for the price, one for the books, one to hold the assets, and the trading firms that create and redeem shares. For BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF (IBIT): CF Benchmarks, BNY Mellon, Coinbase Custody, Jane Street and Virtu. It takes months.
Tokens never close
Tokens trade at night and at weekends. A tokenised stock trades all week, while its home exchange is open about 32 of the 168 hours. There is no independent official price for most of that time.
The issuer marks its own homework
Today the company behind a token usually reports its own numbers. A fund, a lender or an auditor needs a price from someone else.
Firm names from the IBIT, FBTC and GBTC prospectuses and annual reports. Side by side: a traditional ETF and ours, role by role.
Four steps.
Add the asset
The token’s issuer gives us a few basic facts. No new code is needed.
The firms that use it sign one price a day
Exchanges and lenders that already trade or lend the asset sign the same price. We check it against outside sources and against what backs the token.
Fund shares are made in one step
Fund shares are created and redeemed at that price, in one step. Either everything happens or nothing does.
Investors hold shares where they already are
Shares reach investors on the blockchains they already use.
One set of rules for each kind of asset.
Each kind of asset has its own source and its own check.
| Asset | Where the price comes from | What we check | Who signs | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crypto bitcoin, ether |
Trades on several exchanges. Prices far from the rest are dropped. | Exchanges against each other; a lender against its own price | Exchanges and a lender. No issuer. | Pilot Used as a check today; not published |
| Wrapped tokens CBTC, cETH |
The token’s own trades on Canton exchanges, compared with real bitcoin or ether | The reserves are at least the tokens issued. We read this on-chain ourselves. | Exchanges and a lender. The issuer only reports pauses. | Running Pilot on a test network |
| Network token Canton Coin |
Trades on several exchanges | Against the price the network itself votes on | Exchanges and a lender. No issuer. | Running Pilot on a test network, from the network’s voted price so far |
| Tokenised stocks a token for one share |
The stock exchange’s official closing price × the token’s share ratio | The custodian confirms the shares are held. If the issuer’s record of a split or dividend disagrees with the exchange’s, the price stops. | Exchanges and a lender. The issuer states splits and dividends. | Rules published Pilot waits for a first issuer |
| Baskets and funds e.g. 50% bitcoin, 50% ether |
Published weights and published rebalancing rules | Every part needs a valid price. One part missing means no price. | The signers of each part, plus the fund’s custodian and share register | Partly running Fund maths runs on a test network; weighting rules published |
Weekends and nights. We publish a price at 00:00, 08:00 and 16:00 UTC every day, weekends included, clearly labelled. When there is not enough evidence, we publish “no price” — never a guess. Running as a pilot on a test network.
Full rules: methodology §3A (weekends and nights) and §3B (stocks and baskets).
The issuer never sets its own price.
Like a real ETF
A fund company does not set its own index. Here, a token’s issuer can stop a price when something is wrong, but it can never move one.
Several firms sign
Independent exchanges and lenders, each with money on the line, sign the same price.
Every price has a record
Each price is published with who signed it, when, and which rule was used. Anyone can check it.
Written to the IOSCO Principles for Financial Benchmarks (self-assessed; not yet independently audited): methodology §11.
Price an asset once. Every later fund reuses it.
Once an asset has a signed daily price, every fund that holds it uses that price. The next fund needs no new signers. The more assets are priced, the less each new fund has to set up.
First fund example
Half bitcoin, half ether.
Both assets need firms to sign their daily price.
Next fund example
Bitcoin plus a tokenised stock.
Only the stock is new. The bitcoin price is already signed every day.
Every fund buys the tokens it holds.
We do the plumbing that usually takes five or more firms, in one system on Canton, so funds are faster and cheaper to make, and more of them get made. Each one brings new demand to the tokens inside it.
Firms that use a token help price it
Exchanges, lenders, custodians and the issuer each check the part they know.
A trusted price lets funds hold it
Price, fund value, share register and creation/redemption come from one service.
Funds buy the token and list on exchanges
Investors buying the fund means the underlying tokens are bought and held.
More volume, and the next fund is faster
More trading for the token, its exchanges and lenders. Later funds reuse prices already signed.
What we are building, not a result yet: no fund has launched on ETP Foundry.
Fund issuers take a licence. Everyone who signs is free.
Fund and ETP issuers
Launch on assets that already have a signed price. Price, fund value and share creation come as one service.
Licence · pricing on request
Exchanges
Your trades set the official price, so funds and lenders point at your venue, and fund shares can list with you.
Free when you sign
Lenders
Check the price against your own. Nothing is published outside the limit you set in advance.
Free when you sign
Custodians
Confirm what you hold once a day. You share a few numbers, never your statements.
Free · never charged, never paid
Token issuers
We build funds that buy your token. You help confirm it’s backed; we do the ETF plumbing.
Free · never charged, never paid
Market makers and authorised participants
Create and redeem fund shares at the official price, in one step, with no next-day wait.
Free · no per-order fee at launch
Running on a test network. Not yet live for real money.
Live checks: system status · published prices: benchmarks.
Building a fund, or already trading a token?
Tell us who you are and what you want to do. A person reads every request the same day.
Or email hello@etpfoundry.com.