Digital Asset Raises $135M to Scale Canton Network, Bridging Traditional Finance and DeFi
Digital Asset Secures $135M Strategic Round to Accelerate Institutional Blockchain Adoption via Canton Network
Digital Asset, the firm behind the Canton Network, has raised $135 million in a strategic funding round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets. The round saw significant participation from top-tier financial institutions and crypto-native players, including Goldman Sachs, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, DTCC, Paxos, Polychain Capital, and BNP Paribas.
The capital infusion will drive the next phase of growth for Canton, the industry’s first public, permissionless Layer-1 blockchain that integrates configurable privacy, institutional-grade compliance, and interoperability across asset classes.
“This funding milestone validates the inevitability of what we envisioned years ago,” said Yuval Rooz, CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Asset. “We’re finally unlocking blockchain’s full promise—at institutional scale.”
A Transformative Step for Institutional Blockchain
As real-world assets (RWAs) gain traction across crypto and finance, Canton Network is rapidly becoming the go-to infrastructure for compliant, privacy-respecting blockchain adoption. The new funds will be used to:
- Scale integration of hundreds of billions in RWAs (including bonds, funds, repos, and annuities)
- Expand network usage across nearly 400 ecosystem participants
- Deepen infrastructure and governance capabilities with partners such as Goldman Sachs, DRW, and Tradeweb
The Global Synchronizer Foundation, which oversees Canton’s decentralized governance, includes many of the investors in this round.
“With trillions of dollars in real-world assets already leveraging Canton, this raise cements it as the de facto protocol for global collateral mobility,” said Don Wilson, Founder and CEO of DRW.
Addressing the Privacy-Transparency Paradox
The biggest institutional barrier to blockchain adoption has long been privacy. Canton addresses this by offering tailored privacy settings—allowing institutions to maintain confidentiality while leveraging the transparency, immutability, and interoperability of public blockchains.
This approach makes Canton unique among Layer-1 networks and a compelling solution for real-time, cross-border, multi-asset settlement.
“Canton is ready for mainstream finance,” said Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb. “It addresses real challenges with working solutions, not just whitepapers.”
Institutional Validation from Wall Street and DeFi
The round features significant institutional validation, with strategic investments from:
- Goldman Sachs, which built GS DAP® on Digital Asset technology
- Citadel Securities, BNP Paribas, and DTCC, signaling alignment with capital markets infrastructure
- QCP and Polychain Capital, adding DeFi-native credibility and future-forward investment conviction
“Canton unlocks the infrastructure necessary to bridge DeFi and TradFi,” said Josh Rosenthal, Partner at Polychain Capital.
“We see DLT and smart contracts as catalysts to reshape market structure,” added Tradeweb’s Hult.
A New Financial Infrastructure Standard
Canton’s rapid growth—from testing and application development to real-world deployments—signals that the convergence between decentralized and traditional finance is no longer theoretical.
By combining real-time synchronization, smart contract support, modular privacy controls, and scalable throughput, Canton offers an institutional alternative to fragmented, opaque systems.
“This isn’t just a blockchain project,” said Rooz. “It’s the future of global finance infrastructure.”
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