Mumbai, India - DevCon, November 2, 2026 — Consensys today announced Sovereign Network Interoperability, a technology stack for routing and coordinating transactions across independently operated institutional ledgers. As institutions increasingly prefer running their own ledgers (for privacy, regulation, and control), more of their counterparties sit on other networks, and each new connection adds integration and operational complexity. Designed for banks, custodians, asset managers and financial market infrastructures, Sovereign Network Interoperability brings the best interoperability protocols together in a single package. It helps institutions reach new counterparties and markets, settle across them as safely as if everything sat on one ledger, while retaining full control of their infrastructure and data.

Sovereign Network Interoperability covers routing, execution coordination and transaction tracking. An institution specifies what it wants to do, with which approved counterparties, and under what settlement requirements. The product selects an eligible route, coordinates execution and tracks the transaction through completion. Consensys maintains the adapters, protocol releases and operating tools as one product. Sovereign Network Interoperability supports four institutional workflows:

• Collateral mobility: connect asset and collateral platforms so institutions can post eligible collateral to a clearing house or another approved counterparty.

• Securities settlement: coordinate delivery of a tokenized security on one ledger against payment on another through delivery-versus-payment workflows.

• Wholesale and cross-currency payments: connect banks’ currency ledgers to coordinate the two legs of a foreign-exchange transaction under agreed payment-versus-payment conditions.

• Funds and asset servicing: connect fund and banking platforms, enabling corporate treasurers to move idle cash into tokenized money market funds and back at any hour, settling tokenized deposits against fund units in a single step.

Bridgeless interoperability is a core design principle. Assets stay on their native ledgers, and cross-ledger state and execution are verified cryptographically, removing the need for additional trusted intermediaries and preserving institutional sovereignty. At the heart of the product is Consensys's Cross Ledger Interoperability Protocol (CLIP), built on a decade of Consensys experience and zero-knowledge-proof research to enable interoperability. Sovereign Network Interoperability will also support the open Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) standard, the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol and other leading protocols, alongside the planned ability to connect Canton and Ethereum-compatible networks. Every pathway supported by the Sovereign Network Interoperability stack will meet the privacy, verification, settlement and recovery standards institutions expect.

“Institutions need to reach new and existing counterparties without sacrificing privacy, while keeping control of their infrastructure,” said David Cunningham. “We are bringing deep protocol expertise, transaction coordination and complete support into one product. The result is a simpler path to each new connection, with verifiable outcomes and clear accountability for keeping the full stack working for years to come.”

Reusable integrations and common software releases reduce the bespoke work needed to add each new counterparty or workflow. Consensys provides compatibility testing, security fixes, coordinated upgrades, monitoring and incident handling, with connections revalidated when participating networks change. Institutions can operate the product themselves or through a financial market infrastructure, or choose Consensys-managed services. In every model, Consensys supplies the technology and ongoing maintenance.

The launch extends Consensys's strategy of helping institutions deploy, maintain and connect sovereign ledgers. Institutions with existing networks can start with a single supported connection, while those launching new networks can plan deployment and connectivity together from day one. 

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About Consensys

Consensys is a protocols and institutional infrastructure company. Founded in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, Consensys created and maintains Besu, the open-source Ethereum client that many institutional ledgers run on, and builds Lineth, Teku and Web3Signer. Consensys helps banks and market infrastructures run faster, more resilient networks and connect them to counterparties, without moving assets onto another chain or adding trusted intermediaries.

Media contact: Simon Nunes

Q&A – Sovereign Network Interoperability

1. Who is Sovereign Network Interoperability for?

Financial institutions and market infrastructures that need to complete a transaction with a counterparty on another ledger. The starting point is a specific business need, settling a security, exchanging currencies, posting collateral, purchasing a fund unit, or putting a treasurer’s idle cash to work, with identifiable asset owners, counterparties and operating requirements.

2. What would institutions actually buy?

The required protocol integrations, transaction interface, supported software versions, outcome tracking and maintenance. Managed operations can be included. The scope specifies the participating networks, permitted actions, verification model and responsibilities when something needs attention.

3. How would an institutional team use it?

The team submits an instruction through our system via a common interface, through their existing app. Our solution selects an eligible route per your pre-approved requirements, coordinates the actions on each ledger and reports completion, failure or a condition requiring intervention.

4. Do we need to replace our ledger or existing systems?

No. We start by assessing your existing infrastructure. Supported networks may connect through software upgrades, contracts or adapters; institutions establishing a new network can plan deployment and connectivity together.

5. Which networks can connect, and what is available today?

EVM-based chains are now available, with Canton coming next.

6. What does “bridgeless” mean, and what would we still need to trust?

The design priority is to coordinate transactions on the ledgers where assets are recorded, avoiding the need to move them into bridge-issued representations and increase fragmentation. Our proof-based approach aims to replace additional trusted verification intermediaries with cryptographic checks. Participating ledgers, their consensus, verification software, and operational controls still have defined trust assumptions, and our role is to ensure participants always select the most secure protocol when interacting across heterogeneous network topologies.

7. Does every connection provide atomic settlement?

Yes, always. Either synchronously or asynchronously, depending on the specific network topologies and underlying technologies.

8. What happens if a transaction fails or a service goes offline?

Recovery guarantees are agreed upon for the selected flows, including defined recovery time and recovery point objectives, backup and restoration procedures, and clear ownership for meeting them.

9. Who can see our data and control our transactions?

The institution and its scheme determine who may participate, which actions are permitted, and what information must be disclosed within their respective ledgers. Proof-based interoperability ensures that no sovereign data leaks to external participants.

10. Must Consensys operate the product?

Planned options include operation by an institution or financial market infrastructure and Consensys-managed services. Consensys supplies the supported technology and maintenance in each model. Hosting, keys, administration, monitoring and incident responsibilities are assigned explicitly.

11. Who supports us when something changes or breaks?

Consensys provides end-to-end support for the complete software stack, including the open-source components that we maintain and fix directly. Institutions have a single accountable support relationship with Consensys, while Consensys coordinates the relevant engineering teams and upstream open-source work where required.

Planned support covers compatible releases, security fixes, upgrades and revalidation of affected connections. Coverage hours, response targets and recovery responsibilities depend on the service purchased and the participating networks; they are specified in an agreement with Consensys.

12. Can we change operators or add another protocol later?

The product is intended to support expansion through reusable adapters and a maintained interface. Consensys's interoperability specialists audit emerging protocols, propose new protocols as they arise, and frequently expand the protocols it currently supports to increase capability and coverage.

13. How much does it cost?

Pricing is scoped to the responsibilities supplied. The proposed structure combines setup and integration, recurring technology maintenance and support, managed operations where required, and transaction services where applicable.