Participants included a diverse group of global institutions spanning traditional finance, investment banking, and crypto.
Canton Coin News
Digital Asset, the firm behind the Canton Network (CC) blockchain, closed a $355 million funding round on June 11, surpassing an earlier target of $300 million at a $2 billion valuation that had been reported in May. The round was led by a16z crypto, the cryptocurrency investment arm of Andreessen Horowitz.
Participants included a diverse group of global institutions spanning traditional finance, investment banking, and crypto: the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority through a wholly owned subsidiary, Citadel Securities, CME Ventures, S&P Global, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, HSBC, ABN Amro, SBI Group, Hanwha Investment & Securities, William Blair, and Coinbase Ventures. Prior to this raise, Digital Asset had secured roughly $490 million in total funding, according to Crunchbase.
Canton is designed to let regulated financial institutions issue and trade tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), such as bonds, loans, equities, and commodities, on a shared ledger while maintaining privacy and compliance requirements. The network operates as a "network of networks," combining features of public blockchains with the safeguards required by traditional finance, allowing participants to retain full control over their own systems while connecting to a broader ecosystem.
Institutions Need Infrastructure That Reflects How They Operate
Digital Asset co-founder and CEO Yuval Rooz said capital markets moving on-chain require infrastructure built with privacy, compliance, scale, and interoperability embedded from the start. Since Canton's public launch nearly two years ago, the network has accumulated more than 700 ecosystem participants, according to Rooz.
Ali Yahya, general partner at a16z crypto, said real-world asset adoption is no longer theoretical, pointing to institutional workflows moving on-chain as evidence of genuine product-market fit in regulated finance. Beyond financial backing, a16z crypto said it will provide expertise in development, policy, and research to support Digital Asset's continued growth.
Some blockchain analysts have questioned whether Canton qualifies as a true blockchain. TD analyst Lance Vitanza wrote in a February note that many experts consider it "a glorified database in the cloud" that is not consistent with Bitcoin's open, trustless, and permissionless architecture.
The funding arrives as blockchain infrastructure built specifically for regulated markets attracts substantial capital. Stripe and Paradigm's payments chain Tempo reportedly raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation, while Circle Internet raised $222 million for its Arc blockchain at a $3 billion valuation, drawing backing from BlackRock, Apollo Funds, a16z crypto, and ARK Invest.
Digital Asset said the new capital will support the network's continued growth and deepen engagement with developers building on the platform. The company has not disclosed a specific deployment timeline for the funds.
Related Article: Canton Network Targets $300M Raise at $2B Valuation
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.
