24.06.2025 09:29
Digital Asset, the innovative architect behind the privacy-centric Canton Network blockchain, secured a substantial $135 million in a strategic funding round. This significant investment was spearheaded by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with the announcement made public on Tuesday.
A diverse consortium of prominent investors participated, blending the strengths of traditional finance giants and cryptocurrency leaders. This impressive group included BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Virtu Financial, and Paxos, among others. Their combined involvement underscores the growing importance of privacy in enterprise blockchain applications.
The demand for enhanced privacy within blockchain technology has been a persistent concern for enterprise users, especially within the banking and broader financial sectors, for over a decade. Digital Asset’s Canton Network directly addresses this need, prioritizing configurable privacy features. This strategic approach has attracted major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon, currently testing real-world assets (RWAs) on the platform.
Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, highlighted the network's unique flexibility in an interview. He explained that Canton offers a spectrum of privacy options; users can choose to issue assets with varying degrees of transparency, from fully public, resembling Ethereum, to completely private, effectively rendering their existence unknown to others. Rooz emphasized the seamless coexistence of these different privacy levels within the same network, even enabling transactions across assets with differing privacy settings.
This substantial funding injection will significantly bolster the expansion of RWAs on the Canton Network. The platform already supports a wide array of asset classes, including bonds, money market funds, alternative investment funds, commodities, repurchase agreements (repos), mortgages, life insurance policies, and annuities. This expansion, fueled by the investment, promises to further solidify Canton's position in the market.
DRW's founder and CEO, Don Wilson, expressed his enthusiastic support in a statement, characterizing the investment as a catalyst for the next stage of market evolution. He highlighted the trillions of dollars in real-world assets already utilizing the Canton Blockchain, emphasizing the considerable momentum this funding round generates and establishing Canton as a leading force in the industry.
