Digital Asset has closed a $355 million funding round to expand the Canton Network, a privacy-configurable blockchain designed for regulated capital market activity. The round was led by a16z crypto and drew participation from a broad group of financial institutions, including ABN Amro, Apollo Funds, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, HSBC, SBI Group and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The raise also included backing from CME Group, S&P Global and Tradeweb, reinforcing Canton’s positioning as infrastructure aimed at institutional finance rather than open retail crypto markets. The final amount exceeded the roughly $300 million target at a $2 billion valuation previously reported in May, with proceeds directed toward engineering expansion, compliance tooling and network throughput.
Canton Targets Privacy-First Capital Market Workflows
Canton operates as a public Layer 1 blockchain built around traditional finance requirements, particularly confidentiality, compliance and interoperability. The network uses Daml, a smart contract language developed for asset servicing and settlement logic, and supports sub-transaction privacy, allowing institutions to interact on shared infrastructure without exposing counterparty positions or proprietary order flow to other participants.
Digital Asset co-founder and CEO Yuval Rooz said capital markets require infrastructure that reflects how institutions actually operate, with privacy, compliance, scale and interoperability built in from the start. That message underscores the core institutional thesis behind Canton, which is not simply to tokenize assets, but to make blockchain-based settlement compatible with regulated market structures.
The new financing follows approximately $185 million raised over the previous twelve months, including earlier commitments from DRW Venture Capital, Tradeweb, BNY, Nasdaq and S&P Global. Several of those backers rolled over into the latest round, suggesting continued institutional alignment around Canton’s long-term role in financial market infrastructure.
Pilots Show Validation, Not Full Production Rollout
Deployment activity on Canton remains concentrated in pilot programs and controlled testing environments. DTCC is using the network to test tokenized U.S. Treasury securities, while HSBC has operated a tokenized deposit pilot on the infrastructure. In Japan, Mizuho, Nomura and the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation have also conducted proof-of-concept implementations.
These projects point to active technical validation, but they do not yet amount to broad production adoption across capital markets. The newly raised capital is intended to help Digital Asset close that gap by supporting larger-scale institutional tokenization and settlement workflows as the network moves beyond limited trials.
Third-party tracker data also indicates meaningful network activity. DefiLlama records cited in the provided material show Canton generating approximately $60.74 million in fees over the past 30 days, with cumulative all-time network fees near $458.14 million. Those figures reflect activity tied to regulated pilots and targeted settlement environments, rather than open retail trading demand.
The funding lands as traditional financial firms continue directing capital toward blockchain systems built for market-specific constraints. a16z crypto partner Ali Yahya described Digital Asset’s work as an example of infrastructure meeting institutional requirements in regulated finance.
For now, Canton’s confirmed operational status remains centered on infrastructure scaling, asset tokenization, deposit tracking and clearing workflows under compliance frameworks. Broader production deployment across capital market plumbing is still in development, with final rollout schedules and participant onboarding timelines not detailed in the financing announcement.
