Wall Street Firms Invest $135 Million in Digital Asset for Canton Network Expansion

Wall Street firms have collectively invested $135 million into Digital Asset, the company behind the Canton Network, a blockchain platform designed to facilitate the secure movement of real-world assets on-chain. This significant funding round was spearheaded by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, with notable participants including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, DTCC, Paxos, and Polychain Capital. The Canton Network is the first public blockchain tailored for financial institutions, enabling them to transfer assets such as bonds, commodities, funds, mortgages, and life insurance while maintaining data privacy and adhering to stringent financial regulations.

The investment underscores a broader trend where traditional financial giants are increasingly adopting blockchain technology to enhance the efficiency of asset trading, settlement, and management. This move is particularly significant as it addresses one of the primary challenges in blockchain adoption within traditional finance: the need to demonstrate the technology's capability to handle large-scale operations with the same reliability as existing financial systems.

The Canton Network has already garnered nearly 400 participants in its ecosystem and has experienced rapid growth over the past year. The new funding is expected to accelerate its expansion and adoption in both traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi). Yuval Rooz, CEO of Digital Asset, highlighted that this milestone validates their long-term vision of creating a blockchain that balances privacy and compliance for major financial players. "Canton is already actively supporting numerous asset classes—from bonds to alternative funds—and this raise will accelerate onboarding even more real-world assets, finally making blockchain’s transformative promise an institutional-scale reality," Rooz stated.

The investment comes on the heels of previous pilot tests involving major firms such as Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, and Cboe Global Markets, which explored the use of blockchain networks to connect banks and financial institutions. These trials were among the largest of their kind in capital markets, further emphasizing the growing interest and potential of blockchain technology in the financial sector.