Rome Protocol Launches Ostia EVM Chain on Canton Network DevNet With Zero-Knowledge Proofs

@RomeProtocol has put an Ethereum-compatible chain on the developer test network of @CantonNetwork. The chain, called Ostia, runs Ethereum-style smart contracts and settles on Canton, giving developers a way to use familiar EVM tools with Canton's infrastructure.

Each Ostia block comes with a zero-knowledge proof, and Canton records the block and its proof in a single transaction. According to the project's v0.1.0 release notes, every block is proven with the ZisK zero-knowledge virtual machine before it is committed, together with any Canton action tied to it.

What Developers Can Do on Ostia

Developers can deploy with standard Ethereum tools and move Canton Coin ($CC) in and out as a regular ERC-20 token. Tokens issued on Ostia can also appear on Canton as one-to-one twins. Rome's repository documentation describes the mechanism: a Canton token is locked with a gateway contract and a wrapped form is minted on the EVM. For withdrawals, the wrapped token is burnt and the gateway releases the original Canton token.

Ostia has been running on DevNet since October 22 and has committed more than 53,600 blocks so far.

Early-Stage Limits

The deployment is a test release. Rome's documentation states that Ostia is unaudited, its test coin has no value and DevNet may be reset. It also says Rome runs the builder, the prover and the single participant that confirms blocks, and that no other participant confirms Ostia DevNet blocks today. The project's repository advises against using Ostia for anything of value.

The work targets a network built for regulated finance. A Talos report on Canton describes it as a blockchain ecosystem offering privacy, interoperability and fine-grained controls. The same report says Canton was developed by Digital Asset and that its Global Synchronizer uses Canton Coin as its utility token.

For Rome Protocol, Ostia extends beyond its existing Solana-based work. Solana Compass describes Rome as a project that lets applications written for Ethereum run on Solana, and lists Ostia among its newer rollup projects, an EVM chain ordered by Canton and proven with ZisK.

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