Digital Asset raised $355M from a16z, Apollo, BNP, HSBC, CME Ventures, and others. The round funds Canton network expansion for institutional blockchain finance.
Digital Asset, the creator of the Canton blockchain network, raised $355 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz's crypto arm a16z crypto, the company said Thursday.
The New York-based firm builds privacy-enabled blockchain infrastructure for regulated finance. Its Canton network is a public layer-one blockchain designed to handle private transactions for institutions, including banks, asset managers, and exchanges.
The list of participants reads like a who's who across traditional and decentralized finance. Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and Tradeweb joined alongside crypto-native investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, and a16z. CME Ventures, the venture arm of CME Group, also participated, as did Citadel Securities, Optiver, and S&P Global. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority participated through a wholly owned subsidiary. Other backers included 7RIDGE, ABN Amro, Alumni Ventures, Broadridge, Greenwulf Asset Management, Hanwha Investment & Securities, iCapital, Liberty City Ventures, R136 Ventures, SBI Group, Smash Capital, SoFi, and William Blair. Financial Technology Partners served as exclusive strategic and financial advisor on the transaction.
The round comes as large financial institutions look for blockchain infrastructure that meets regulatory requirements for privacy, settlement finality, and interoperability. Canton, which launched as a public network in 2023, allows institutions to transact on a shared ledger without exposing sensitive data to all participants. The network's architecture was designed to enable real-time settlement, 24/7 trading, and the tokenization of traditional assets like bonds and funds.
Digital Asset was founded in 2014 and has been a key player in the push to bring blockchain technology to mainstream finance. The company did not disclose its valuation in the latest round. It had previously raised around $300 million from investors including Goldman Sachs, IBM, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation.
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