The short version: TermMax, a DeFi fixed-rate borrowing and lending protocol with $24M in TVL and backing from Cumberland, HashKey Capital, Decima Fund and MZ Cryptos, needed to source a Daml-specialised audit firm for their launch on Canton. The Daml audit market is small, specialised, and hard to discover through normal channels. Using Procur3's private RFP flow, TermMax collected competitive bids from qualified Daml firms and closed out the search in three days.
The problem: sourcing Daml auditors is hard
TermMax was preparing to ship a fixed-rate DeFi protocol on Canton, running on Daml. Their engineering team had done the scoping work — they knew the codebase, understood the primitives, and were clear on what they needed reviewed. What they didn't have was a shortlist of firms with genuine Daml and Canton expertise.
This is a common pattern for teams launching on Canton. The audit market for Daml is materially smaller than the EVM audit market. There is no public leaderboard, few public reports (many Canton deployments are private or institutional), and no obvious search path via ordinary vendor discovery. Teams frequently spend three to six weeks running down references and taking discovery calls before they even reach a first competitive quote.
Every day of that discovery cycle is a day pushed off the launch timeline. For a team with backing from Cumberland, HashKey Capital, Decima Fund and MZ Cryptos, and a scheduled Canton launch, that was not acceptable.
The solution: a private RFP on Procur3
TermMax used the private RFP flow on Procur3. The flow is designed exactly for scenarios like this:
- Scope posted once. Language (Daml), chain (Canton), protocol complexity, confidentiality constraints, target start date.
- Matched firms notified. Procur3 filters to firms with actual Daml and Canton audit capability — not just "we've seen Daml before" claims. Scope stays private throughout.
- Competitive bids returned. Firms respond with price, timeline, team assigned, and methodology. TermMax compared quotes side by side.
Three days from RFP posting to firm selected.
Why it worked
The mechanics matter, but the underlying reason it worked in three days rather than three weeks is that Procur3 had already done the discovery work. Every firm in the directory is listed with its published audit count, findings, languages and chains, so a Daml requirement resolves to a shortlist immediately rather than after a fortnight of asking around. When a Daml RFP comes in, only firms with that capability are notified. There is no long list of unqualified firms to screen out, no bad-fit calls to sit through, no wasted discovery time.
For institutional-adjacent teams like TermMax, where the audit report needs to be defensible to backers and internal risk teams, the ability to compare qualified firms side by side on published track record, reviewer names and Canton-specific experience is more valuable than any single vendor introduction.
You can see the same data the matching runs on: every firm in the directory, with its audit count, findings disclosed, languages and chains, is listed in our comparison of every smart contract audit firm.
Why confidentiality matters
For teams like TermMax preparing an institutional launch, scope confidentiality is not a nice-to-have. The RFP contained technical scope information that should not become public before launch. Procur3's private RFP model keeps scope visible only to the firms the team invites, under platform confidentiality terms. It is never visible to the general public and never appears in the searchable directory.
In TermMax's words
"Security isn't an afterthought for TermMax. Thanks @procur3 for helping us run a clean RFP to find specialized Daml auditors ahead of our @CantonNetwork launch."
TermMax
The broader point for Canton teams
If you are building on Canton, the Daml audit market is genuinely hard to navigate without help. There are fewer than a dozen firms worldwide with substantive Daml and Canton experience, and their availability changes week to week. Trying to source blind through reference emails, cold outreach and hoping for a warm intro typically costs weeks.
The alternative is what TermMax did: run a private RFP on Procur3 and let the qualified market come to you.
We have written a companion guide covering what a Daml review actually involves, how to evaluate firms, which firms are building capability, typical costs, and how to fund the work through the Canton Development Fund. Read: How to Get Your Daml Smart Contracts Audited on Canton.
About TermMax
TermMax is a DeFi fixed-rate borrowing and lending protocol with a looping strategy layer and $24M in total value locked. Backers include Cumberland, HashKey Capital, Decima Fund and MZ Cryptos. Follow the team at @TermMaxFi.
About Procur3
Procur3 is the neutral marketplace for Web3 security procurement. Teams post one RFP and receive competitive quotes from vetted audit firms in hours, not weeks. Free for teams. Follow us at @procur3.