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June 24, 2025 – Digital Asset, the leading innovator in blockchain technology and the creator of the pioneering Canton Network, today announced it has successfully raised $135 million in a strategic funding round. This significant investment underscores the market's strong validation of Canton Network's unique capabilities in bridging traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) for institutional-grade applications.
The round was co-led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, signaling a powerful convergence of traditional finance leaders and crypto-native investors committed to scaling blockchain-based finance. The funding round saw robust participation from a diverse and influential group of major institutions, including 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 capital injection will rapidly accelerate the integration of hundreds of billions of real-world assets (RWAs) onto the Canton Network, building upon its already substantial deployment across diverse asset classes such as bonds, money market funds, alternative funds, commodities, repurchase agreements (repos), mortgages, life insurance, and annuities.
“This funding milestone validates the inevitability of what we envisioned years ago: a privacy-enabled public blockchain designed specifically for institutional adoption,” said Yuval Rooz, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset. “Canton is already actively supporting numerous asset classes, and this raise will accelerate onboarding even more real-world assets, finally making blockchain’s transformative promise an institutional-scale reality.”
Canton Network: The Only Public Blockchain with Institutional-Grade Privacy
The Canton Network is the first public, permissionless Layer-1 blockchain purpose-built for institutional finance, uniquely combining privacy, compliance, and scalability. Built using Digital Asset's proprietary DAML smart contracts, Canton enforces "need-to-know" privacy, ensuring that participants only see relevant transaction data. This configurable on-chain privacy is a critical differentiator, overcoming the primary barrier to blockchain adoption for regulated entities: the conflict between transparency and financial confidentiality.
“Canton Network addresses critical barriers—privacy, compliance, and scale—that have long hindered institutional DeFi adoption,” commented Josh Rosenthal, Partner at Polychain Capital. “Polychain invests in visionary infrastructure, and Canton’s progress positions it as a catalyst for merging traditional finance with decentralized innovation.”
Unprecedented Traction and Ecosystem Growth
Since its MainNet launch a year ago, the Canton Network has experienced remarkable growth and adoption:
- Nearly 400 ecosystem participants, including global leaders in both traditional and decentralized finance.
- Over $4 trillion in tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs).
- More than $2 trillion in monthly transaction volume.
Over $12 billion in natively issued digital securities, with more than half of all digital bond issuances in 2024 made on Canton. This includes significant milestones like HSBC's €50 million digital treasury notes, marking Europe's second sovereign DLT issuance.
“Today, major players from crypto and traditional finance have joined Digital Asset on its mission to catalyze the next evolution in markets,” stated Don Wilson, Founder and CEO of DRW. “With trillions of dollars’ worth of real-world assets already leveraging the Canton Blockchain, this next round of funding creates significant momentum for the company, and cements Canton as the de facto protocol for global collateral mobility.”
The funding also deepens existing relationships with several firms already integral to the Canton Network and its Global Synchronizer Foundation. This Linux Foundation-governed foundation ensures transparent governance and organizational neutrality, facilitating the adoption and evolution of the Global Synchronizer – the decentralized interoperability backbone of the Canton Network.
Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb, added, "Digital Asset and Canton are addressing real-world challenges in financial markets, not just theoretical concepts. The fact that such a wide range of asset classes are already integrated onto Canton is an important sign that this network is ready for mainstream finance. We are excited to support Digital Asset’s vision. At Tradeweb, we see DLT and smart contracts as catalysts for reimagining and reshaping market structure—unlocking workflow efficiencies and accelerating the shift toward electronic markets."
Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, affirmed, "Goldman Sachs remains committed to accelerating the adoption of digital assets and a blockchain-powered financial system. Our longstanding relationship with Digital Asset stems from a deep conviction in the strength of their technology, which continues to be foundational to the development and ongoing success of GS DAP®. We are pleased to participate in their latest funding round and to continue to support them as a critical player in the institutional digital asset ecosystem."
Melvin Deng, CEO of QCP, concluded, "We believe digital assets should be a core part of institutional finance, and at QCP, that’s our mission. Canton is creating the kind of infrastructure that makes that possible - compliant, interoperable, and trusted. Our investment signals belief not only in the technology, but in the purpose behind it."
This strategic funding round solidifies Canton Network’s position as the leading infrastructure for the inevitable convergence of traditional finance and institutional crypto, enabling real-time efficiencies, 24/7 global transactions, and unlocking the full potential of digital assets.
About Digital Asset:
Digital Asset is a leading innovator in blockchain technology, transforming traditional and digital financial markets with privacy-enabled solutions that improve capital flow and create a more efficient, fair, and resilient global system. As the creator of the Canton Network, the only public Layer-1 blockchain with privacy, and a founding member of its Global Synchronizer Foundation, Digital Asset has been a pioneer of this open, secure, and interoperable infrastructure. Founded in 2014, Digital Asset is committed to reshaping the future of finance.
About Canton Network:
The Canton Network is the first public, permissionless blockchain purpose-built for institutional finance—uniquely combining privacy, compliance, and scalability. Governed by the Global Synchronizer Foundation with participation from leading global financial institutions, Canton enables real-time, secure synchronization and settlement across multiple asset classes on a shared, interoperable infrastructure. Initially developed by Digital Asset and now open-sourced, Canton supports decentralized governance and collaborative app development.
Compiled by CMO Intern team
