Digital Asset, the developer behind the privacy-centric blockchain Canton Network, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $135 million in a strategic funding round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets. This funding round also featured prominent institutions from both traditional finance and the cryptocurrency sector, including BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, IMC Trading, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Virtu Financial, Paxos, among others. Privacy has long been a critical concern for enterprise blockchain users, especially banks and large financial institutions, extending over a decade. Digital Asset’s Canton Network prioritizes configurable privacy, attracting firms such as Goldman Sachs and BNY Mellon to pilot real-world assets (RWAs) on its platform. “Anyone can connect to Canton, but if I want to issue an asset on Canton, I control its privacy settings, ” CEO Yuval Rooz explained in an interview. “I can issue an asset with no privacy, resembling Ethereum, or an asset with complete privacy, hidden from others.

These different privacy levels can coexist on the same network, and I can even execute transactions involving both types of assets. ” The newly raised capital will help broaden the adoption of RWAs on Canton, which currently encompasses bonds, money market funds, alternative funds, commodities, repurchase agreements (repos), mortgages, life insurance, and annuities. “Today, leading players from crypto and traditional finance have joined Digital Asset in advancing the next phase of market innovation, ” said Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, in a statement. “With trillions in real-world assets already utilizing the Canton Blockchain, this funding round accelerates the company’s momentum and establishes Canton as the leading protocol for global collateral mobility. ”