What is onRails?

onRails is an institutional-grade issuance infrastructure and cross-chain bridge protocol built natively for the Canton Network. Designed to bring external liquidity into the Canton ecosystem, the platform's flagship product is cETH, a 1:1 backed wrapped Ethereum asset. Operating through a secure lock-and-mint mechanism coordinated by an off-chain relayer, the protocol ensures that all minted assets are fully backed by verifiable on-chain reserves held in custody without any rehypothecation.

By transforming Ethereum into a privacy-preserving, CIP-56 compliant token, the infrastructure enables atomic composability with other native Canton assets. Built specifically for institutional trading, lending, and settlement, the system prioritizes deterministic processing and strict policy enforcement. Serving as a critical interoperability layer, the project provides major financial institutions with a reliable, legally robust gateway to utilize Ethereum liquidity within decentralized financial workflows.