> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://canary-1.gitbook.io/canary/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://canary-1.gitbook.io/canary/what-is-canary.md). # What is Canary The Assurance Layer for onchain finance. What Canary is, the four products, how they fit together, and where to start. **The Assurance Layer for capital that can't fail.** Canary verifies value before it moves. Every cross-chain message Canary secures, and every mint and redemption it is asked to approve, is checked against evidence before Canary adds its signature. Anything Canary cannot prove correct, it refuses. With Canary Collateral Proofs, Canary is also designed to show that evidence, so the people who rely on an asset can see what backs it, how each part was checked, and what still depends on trust. Institutions do not run on trust. They run on assurance, the discipline of gathering evidence before money moves. Crypto inverted that order and learned to settle first and discover the truth afterwards. Canary brings assurance onchain. Proof comes first, the signature comes second, and anything that cannot be proven is refused. ## One standard, four products Canary began as an independent decentralised verifier network (DVN) in the LayerZero ecosystem, and it is now part of the default security configuration on LayerZero. The same verification standard now covers how an asset is created, how it moves between chains and how it is redeemed, and Canary Collateral Proofs are designed to extend it to the evidence behind the asset's backing. | Product | What it is | The question it answers | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | [**Canary DVN**](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-dvn.md) | The verification layer. Verifies every cross-chain message it secures inside hardware-isolated enclaves, with a k-of-n quorum, before signing. | Is this message real, final, and exactly what the source chain says? | | [**Canary Cipher**](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-cipher.md) | The security engine. Composable checks and hooks that the DVN consults before it signs. | Should this transfer happen at all? | | [**Canary Cosigner**](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-cosigner.md) | Collateral verification for asset issuers. Joins the issuer's signing quorum and co-signs a mint or redemption only when the backing reconciles. | Does the backing still hold after this transaction? | | [**Canary Collateral Proofs**](/canary/the-assurance-layer/collateral-proofs.md) | The evidence foundation. Designed to verify what backs an asset, show where trust still sits, and supply the same evidence to Cosigner and the DVN. | What backs this asset, how was it verified, and what still needs trust? | Canary DVN verifies. Canary Cipher refuses. Canary Cosigner signs last. Canary Collateral Proofs make trust visible and evidence verifiable. Together, they form the Assurance Layer.
The Assurance Layer across the life of an asset. Canary Collateral Proofs are built to verify the evidence behind the backing, show it to users in a transparency view, and supply it to the products that sign. Canary Cosigner checks mints and redemptions, Canary DVN with Canary Cipher checks cross-chain movement, and every path ends in a proven signature or a refusal. A note says that where Cosigner is configured as a required approver, its refusal stops the mint or redemption.

One body of evidence supports every signature, and every path ends in a proven signature or a refusal.

## How Canary is built * **An independent client.** Written from scratch in Go, not the shared reference implementation most verifier operators run, so a bug in that shared implementation is not a bug in Canary. * **Trusted execution.** Every verification runs inside a hardware-isolated enclave, with cryptographic attestation of exactly which code ran. Keys are generated inside the enclave and never leave it. * **Quorum and pinned sources.** Independent nodes on different infrastructure must agree before anything is signed. Every upstream data source is certificate-pinned inside the enclave and cross-checked against other sources. * **Floors you can only raise.** Canary sets per-chain confirmation floors above network defaults, and baseline thresholds that no application configuration can loosen. * **Fail-closed by construction.** A missing answer, a timeout or an unreachable dependency resolves to refusal. Uncertainty is never treated as approval. The detail is in [How it works](/canary/how-it-works/security-stack.md). ## Canary today Figures as of 7 October 2026. Definitions, sources and dates are on [Figures and sources](/canary/reference/figures-and-sources.md). | Measure | Figure | | -------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | In production | Since January 2025, nearly two years | | Record | 100% uptime, zero security incidents, zero misverified messages | | Cross-chain volume secured | $53.4B+ cumulative | | Messages verified | 1.6M+ | | Applications | 440+ active in the last 90 days | | Last 30 days | $13.3B+ in cross-chain volume secured | | Coverage | 140+ chains | | Position | Part of the default security configuration on LayerZero | ## Who Canary is for * **Applications that move value across chains** and want a verifier that refuses rather than reports. Start with [Canary DVN](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-dvn.md) and the [recommended DVN sets](/canary/integrate/recommended-dvn-sets.md). * **Stablecoin, tokenised fund, wrapped-asset, restaking, lending and trading protocols** whose cross-chain risk depends on their own accounting, backends and limits. Add [Canary Cipher](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-cipher.md). * **Asset issuers** who mint and redeem against collateral held onchain and offchain. Add [Canary Cosigner](/canary/the-assurance-layer/canary-cosigner.md) to the signing workflow you already run. * **Holders, counterparties and integrators** who need to know what backs an asset, how that backing was verified and what still depends on trust. Start with [Canary Collateral Proofs](/canary/the-assurance-layer/collateral-proofs.md). ## Where to go next * To understand the problem and the doctrine, read [Why Canary exists](/canary/why-canary-exists.md) and [The Canary standard](/canary/the-canary-standard.md). * To choose a product, read [The Assurance Layer](/canary/the-assurance-layer.md). * To install, go to the [Quickstart](/canary/quickstart.md). * To check the record yourself, go to [Track record](/canary/trust-and-transparency/track-record.md) and [Dashboards and live data](/canary/trust-and-transparency/dashboards-and-live-data.md).