Digital Asset raises $355M to scale Canton Network for institutions

Digital Asset closed a $355 million funding round led by a16z crypto to scale the Canton Network for institutional finance applications.

"One of the most compelling blockchain opportunities is no longer theoretical; it is emerging as real-world assets and institutional workflows move on-chain," Ali Yahya, general partner at a16z crypto, said. "Digital Asset has built one of the clearest examples of blockchain product-market fit in regulated finance."

The round included participation from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, S&P Global, SBI Group, SoFi and Tradeweb. Canton, a public permissionless Layer 1 blockchain designed for institutional finance, has already supported the issuance of about $6 trillion in assets, with JPMorgan, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Visa deploying applications or participating in validation on the network.

The funds will be dedicated to product development, institutional partner engagement and network growth, Chief Executive Officer Yuval Rooz said. Digital Asset plans to use the capital to accelerate collaborations with financial institutions and pursue mergers and acquisitions, with most of the participating institutions being potential Canton users, Rooz added.

The financing marks one of the largest capital raises in blockchain infrastructure, reflecting growing demand from traditional financial institutions for on-chain solutions that support real-world asset tokenization and regulated workflows. a16z crypto contributed $100 million to the round, according to a person familiar with the matter. The network's ability to support privacy-configurable transactions and asset tokenization has drawn interest from major banks, market makers and asset managers seeking to move capital markets activity onto blockchain rails.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.