Canopy introduces a ‘layerless’ approach to building sovereign blockchains

Canopy is a new infrastructure project that aims to re-imagine the way Layer-1 blockchains are built and operated.

The team is introducing an auto-scaling L1 framework designed to make spinning up sovereign chains significantly easier than the rollup architectures most teams rely on today.

The model preserves the qualities builders care about, such as independence, security and long-term scalability, while reducing the complexity of getting a new chain live.

This project presents itself against the hype-driven cycles at present, where the priority is now speed rather than architectural tradeoffs for an ecosystem.

Instead, it introduces a complete and new species of “layerless” blockchain infrastructure engineered for sovereign interoperable networks at scale. 

A new architecture for sovereign L1s

Canopy eliminates the classic challenges to developing an L1 from an engineering perspective.

The architecture is designed to embody shared security, sovereignty, and composability—three attributes that don’t typically coexist in established ecosystems. 

To achieve this, the team is introducing a concept called Nested Chains.

The approach lets a blockchain expand in two ways: by adding parallel chains and by increasing the capacity of an individual chain.

Unlike appchains that sit on top of a host network, Nested Chains start out sovereign and are built to participate in the wider ecosystem rather than depend on it.

This architecture supports trustless interoperability without relying on fragile bridges or extra middleware.

Instead of the layered and hierarchical designs that dominate most multichain systems, Canopy uses a layerless, mesh-style security model where chains connect directly and share validation.

The goal is to remove the bottlenecks and failure points that come from stacking multiple execution layers on top of one another.

Central to this design is NestBFT, a consensus protocol created by Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Andrew Nguyen. NestBFT, in its optimisation for performance and resilience, includes:

• Sub-second finality
• Long-range protection from attacks that rely on VDF-based “Proof-of-Age”.
• Dynamic security provisioning as networks grow.

Instead of treating security as an add-on, Canopy embeds it right into the very nature of chain interactions, building a “layerless mesh security system,” as it calls it. 

From single-chain apps to full L1s—and beyond

Canopy imagines a scenario where applications start as small, self-contained networks and grow eventually into high-performing L1s—or L0-level networks which protect and support others as the infrastructure grows. 

The result is a security mesh where activity, value, and traffic feed off one another, not discrete networks in contention for attention.

Further reducing the barriers to entry, Canopy provides builder-ready templates that allow teams to write things in the language they want and deploy far faster than existing architectures enable. 

Built by infrastructure veterans

Canopy’s technical strategy is driven by founders who have a long track record of deploying and scaling Web3 infrastructure. 

Co-founder Adam Liposky was already instrumental in transforming Pocket Network into a high-demand, top-200 market-cap project that provided support for over a billion daily relays at its peak.

Before then, he was the operator of NachoNodes, which is now part of DLTx ASA and head of ecosystem at the Moonbeam Foundation. 

CTO Andrew Nguyen, who wrote nearly all of Pocket Network’s original core protocol codebase, has extensive expertise in protocol engineering on L1s, NFT marketplaces, and defence-grade blockchains.

With Canopy, his work is centred on redesigning shared security to avoid some compromises that developers commonly make today, such as bridge dependencies and brittle interoperability layers. 

Betanet progress ahead of mainnet

Canopy has already started adding around 20 top-tier validators such as Rhino, Pier Two and Lavender Five to its Betanet.

The network is being stress-tested with real validators and selective builders to validate assumptions, find edge cases, and ensure stability prior to the mainnet itself. 

User onboarding has been intentionally constrained in this stage, as the team has worked to solidify the architecture and conduct performance testing under pressure.

The grand long-term vision for sovereign development

Canopy aims to offer the rock-solid software stack that’s essential in launching and even scaling sovereign blockchains, so high-performance L1 deployment is within reach of any developer, even if you have no previous experience in infrastructure.

Where the rest of the industry is often caught up in hype more than architectural accuracy, Canopy is purposefully taking a different course. 

The team wants to provide builders with absolute independence and value capture while keeping the experience of building simple, just like deploying a modern rollup.

But as Liposky puts it, the long-term vision is simple: a world where every builder can use a sovereign, scalable, secure L1 and whose ecosystem blossoms with each new chain added to the entire network.

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