Financial institutions BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, and DTCC have collaborated in investing $135 million into the development of Digital Asset, a digital asset technology company headquartered in Canton.
**Digital Asset Secures $135 Million Funding Round for Canton Network**
Digital Asset, a blockchain platform designed for institutional use in financial services, has announced a significant funding round of $135 million. The round was led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with participation from institutional backers including BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Goldman Sachs, and Virtu Financial.
The funding will be used to further develop and scale the Canton Network, a public permissionless blockchain that offers advancements in interoperability, privacy, and partnerships with major institutions. Since its inception, Digital Asset's focus has shifted towards the Canton Network, marking a departure from its previous focus on the Daml smart contract language.
The Canton Network is designed to enable multiple independent financial institutions and distributed ledger applications (dApps) to transact on a shared infrastructure while maintaining autonomy. Its key innovation, the Global Synchronizer (GS), coordinates transactions across different subnetworks (sync domains) securely and atomically without merging their private data. This capability supports composability across domains, allowing complex cross-consortium workflows such as settling trades that involve multiple asset types without risking data leakage or compromising regulatory compliance.
Canton also emphasizes granular, end-to-end encrypted privacy at the protocol level, essential for institutional adoption. Participating banks, custodians, and fintechs can operate on a shared network without exposing sensitive details such as trading strategies, client positions, or commercial terms. This privacy model is built into the network’s permissioning structure, ensuring compliance with regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and providing provable data confidentiality.
In addition to its focus on privacy and interoperability, Canton is supporting various real-world asset classes, including bonds and alternative investment funds. The network already processes over $4 trillion in tokenized assets, making it a significant player in institutional finance. Large financial institutions and ecosystems, such as Nasdaq and Calypso, have integrated Canton to automate workflows and reduce manual reconciliation and settlement delays while maintaining compliance with risk frameworks.
Tradeweb CEO Billy Hult stated that Digital Asset and Canton are addressing real-world challenges in financial markets. Hult noted that the wide range of asset classes already integrated onto Canton is an important sign that the network is ready for mainstream finance. Tradeweb, known for its fixed income marketplaces, has been involved in multiple Canton solutions, including a partnership with Novaprime to share data on mortgage forwards.
The Canton Network offers a configurable privacy solution, an alternative to privacy solutions based on Zero Knowledge Proofs. This flexibility makes it appealing to a wide range of institutions, as they can tailor their privacy settings to suit their specific needs.
With this funding round, Digital Asset aims to accelerate the adoption of the Canton Network in institutional finance, unlocking new possibilities for regulated institutions to collaboratively transact on a decentralized network without compromising proprietary or customer data.
[1] Digital Asset. (n.d.). Canton Network. Retrieved from https://www.digitalasset.com/canton/ [2] Digital Asset. (2021, March 23). Canton Network Supports Private Stablecoin Payments. Retrieved from https://www.digitalasset.com/canton-network-supports-private-stablecoin-payments/ [3] Digital Asset. (2021, February 17). Canton Network Processes Over $4 Trillion in Tokenized Assets. Retrieved from https://www.digitalasset.com/canton-network-processes-over-4-trillion-in-tokenized-assets/ [4] Digital Asset. (2020, October 21). Nasdaq Integrates Canton Network to Automate Workflows. Retrieved from https://www.digitalasset.com/nasdaq-integrates-canton-network-to-automate-workflows/
- Digital Asset, with the $135 million funds from its recent capital round, aims to advance the Canton Network, offering insights into interoperability, privacy, and enterprise-level blockchain technology in the financial sector.
- The Canton Network, a public blockchain designed for multiple institutions and dApps, hosts over $4 trillion in tokenized assets, providing a significant platform for various assets such as bonds and alternative investment funds.
- With the Global Synchronizer (GS) as its keystone innovation, the Canton Network enables secure, atomic transactions across different subnetworks, promoting composability and maintaining regulatory compliance while ensuring privacy and maintaining proprietary and customer data.
