Digital Asset, the company behind the Canton Network, has secured $135 million in a strategic funding round to accelerate the adoption of its pioneering blockchain network. The funding round was led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with participation from major institutions in both traditional and decentralized finance.
The investment aims to rapidly expand the integration of real-world assets (RWAs) onto the Canton Network, building upon its already substantial deployment across diverse asset classes. These assets include bonds, money market funds, alternative funds, commodities, repurchase agreements (repos), mortgages, life insurance, and annuities. The Canton Network is a public, permissionless Layer-1 blockchain that offers configurable privacy and institutional-grade compliance at scale.
The funding round included participation from BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Goldman Sachs, IMC, Liberty City Ventures, Optiver, Paxos, Polychain Capital, QCP, Republic Digital, 7RIDGE, and Virtu Financial. This diverse group of investors underscores the broad appeal and potential of the Canton Network to bridge the gap between traditional and decentralized finance.
Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, stated that this funding validates the vision of a privacy-enabled public blockchain designed specifically for institutional adoption. He added that with trillions of dollars' worth of real-world assets already leveraging the Canton Blockchain, this funding creates significant momentum and cements Canton as the de facto protocol for global collateral mobility.
The Canton Network has experienced rapid growth, with nearly 400 ecosystem participants, including global leaders in both traditional and decentralized finance. By allowing institutions to tailor privacy settings to their specific needs, Canton overcomes the primary barrier to blockchain adoption: the conflict between transparency and financial confidentiality.
Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, noted that major players from crypto and traditional finance have joined Digital Asset on its mission to catalyze the next evolution in markets. Goldman Sachs also expressed its commitment to accelerating the adoption of digital assets and a blockchain-powered financial system, citing their longstanding relationship with Digital Asset and the strength of their technology.
Founded in 2014, Digital Asset develops blockchain solutions that bring institutional-grade privacy and compliance to digital and traditional markets. The Canton Network, built and operationalized by Digital Asset in close partnership with top global financial institutions and technology providers, represents the next phase of financial infrastructure. Several investors, including BNP Paribas, DRW, Goldman Sachs, Liberty City Ventures, QCP, and Tradeweb, have existing relationships with Digital Asset and are involved in the Canton Network or its Global Synchronizer Foundation, supporting the network's growth through governance, infrastructure, and decentralized app development.
