Latest news with #YuvalRooz
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Digital Asset secures $135m to advance blockchain integration
Digital Asset, the firm behind the privacy-focused Canton Network, has raised $135m in a major fundraising round to accelerate blockchain adoption in global financial markets. DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets spearheaded the strategic raising, which drew a wide range of participants from the traditional financial and cryptocurrency industries. Among the investors are Circle Ventures, BNP Paribas, Citadel Securities, Goldman Sachs, DTCC, Paxos, Polychain Capital, QCP, and Virtu Financial. The funding will be used to scale the Canton Network, the only public, permissionless Layer-1 blockchain designed with configurable privacy and institutional-grade compliance. With nearly 400 organisations already active on the network, Canton is being positioned as the go-to infrastructure for tokenising and trading real-world assets (RWAs) such as bonds, commodities, repos, mortgages, and insurance products. Yuval Rooz, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital Asset stated: "This funding milestone validates the inevitability of what we envisioned years ago: a privacy-enabled public blockchain designed specifically for institutional adoption. 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." The Canton Network has seen rapid growth, underpinned by long-standing partnerships with major financial institutions. Many of the investors, such as DRW, Goldman Sachs, Tradeweb, and QCP, have already played significant roles in governance, infrastructure, or application development for the network through the Global Synchroniser Foundation. Don Wilson, founder and CEO of DRW, emphasised the importance of this funding as a catalyst for long-term market transformation: "Today, major players from crypto and traditional finance have joined Digital Asset on its mission to catalyse the next evolution in markets. Building on the work that we started a decade ago, we are at the inflection point of being able to use blockchain at scale in traditional markets. With trillions of dollars' worth of real-world assets already leveraging the Canton Blockchain, this next round of funding creates significant momentum for the company, and cements Canton as the de facto protocol for global collateral mobility." Billy Hult, CEO of Tradeweb, praised the practical utility of the platform: "Digital Asset and Canton are addressing real-world challenges in financial markets, not just theoretical concepts. The fact that such a wide range of asset classes are already integrated onto Canton is an important sign that this network is ready for mainstream finance. We are excited to support Digital Asset's vision. At Tradeweb, we see DLT and smart contracts as catalysts for reimagining and reshaping market structure, unlocking workflow efficiencies and accelerating the shift toward electronic markets." The raise reflects growing recognition that blockchain's potential in finance hinges on solving for privacy and regulatory compatibility, two areas where Canton's design offers a differentiated edge. Mathew McDermott, Global Head of Digital Assets at Goldman Sachs, noted: "Goldman Sachs remains committed to accelerating the adoption of digital assets and a blockchain-powered financial system. Our longstanding relationship with Digital Asset stems from a deep conviction in the strength of their technology, which continues to be foundational to the development and ongoing success of GS DAP®. We are pleased to participate in their latest funding round and to continue to support them as a critical player in the institutional digital asset ecosystem." Moreover, other backers echoed the network's role as a bridge between DeFi innovation and traditional finance. Melvin Deng, CEO of QCP, added: "We believe digital assets should be a core part of institutional finance, and at QCP, that's our mission. Canton is creating the kind of infrastructure that makes that possible - compliant, interoperable, and trusted. Our investment signals belief not only in the technology, but in the purpose behind it." As blockchain continues to shift from experimentation to implementation, Canton Network's trajectory signals a turning point for how capital markets may evolve. With fresh capital and a deepening pool of institutional collaborators, Digital Asset is betting big on making decentralised infrastructure an integral part of the global financial system. "Digital Asset secures $135m to advance blockchain integration" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Finextra
19 hours ago
- Business
- Finextra
Wall Street and crypto firms pump $135 million into Digital Asset
Major players from crypto and traditional finance have joined in a $135 million funding round in Digital Asset, the firm behind the Canton Network blockchain platform for tokenised assets. 0 Led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets, the round includes participation from major institutions in both traditional and decentralized finance, including BNP Paribas, Circle Ventures, Citadel Securities, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Goldman Sachs, IMC, Liberty City Ventures, Optiver, Paxos, Polychain Capital, QCP, Republic Digital, 7RIDGE, and Virtu Financial. The raise deepens the relationship with several firms who already part of the Canton Network, including, BNP Paribas, DRW, Goldman Sachs, Liberty City Ventures, QCP, and Tradeweb, all of whom have played various roles in either the testing, governance, infrastructure, or app development on the Network since its inception. Canton has experienced rapid growth over the past year, with nearly 400 ecosystem participants and hundreds of billions of real-world assets on the Network, building upon a substantial deployment of diverse asset classes, including bonds, money market funds, alternative funds, commodities, repurchase agreements (repos), mortgages, life insurance, and annuities. Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, comments: 'This funding milestone validates the inevitability of what we envisioned years ago: a privacy-enabled public blockchain designed specifically for institutional adoption. 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.'
CNBC
21 hours ago
- Business
- CNBC
Goldman Sachs and Citadel back crypto firm Digital Asset in $135 million funding round
Crypto company Digital Asset said Tuesday that it's netted $135 million in funding from a raft of major names in banking and finance. The firm, which touts itself as a regulated crypto player, said it raised the fresh cash in a funding round co-led by DRW and Tradeweb, with Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas and Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities also investing. The investment highlights how large financial institutions are embedding themselves in the once murky world of cryptocurrencies. Previously associated with fraud, money laundering and other illicit activities, digital assets have become a more mainstream asset class over the years as big names like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley warmed to the space. Just last week, JPMorgan launched its own version of a stablecoin, a deposit token called "JPMD." "With growing participation from global financial institutions and market participants, we expect this funding round to help us solidify our role as the backbone of digital finance," Yuval Rooz, Digital Asset's CEO and co-founder, told CNBC. Digital Asset sells a number of digital asset services to its clients, which include major Wall Street players like Goldman Sachs, Citadel and Virtu. Co-founded in 2014 by trader-turned-entrepreneur Yuval Rooz, it competes with the likes of Ripple, R3 and Consensys. The firm will use the new funding to advance adoption of the Canton Network. Initially developed by Digital Asset but now open-source, Canton is a public blockchain designed for financial institutions to move assets and data around while meeting regulatory and privacy requirements. Banks and trading firms are using Canton to tokenize real-world assets such as bonds, commodities and money market funds. "This raise will allow us to build upon the continuing momentum around the Canton Network and accelerate the onboarding of more high-quality assets, finally making blockchain's transformative promise an institutional-scale reality," Rooz told CNBC. The network now supports trillions of dollars in tokenized assets, according to Digital Asset's CEO.
