Digital Asset, a cryptocurrency company, announced on Tuesday that it has secured $135 million in funding from several prominent financial institutions.
The investment round, co-led by DRW and Tradeweb, included backers such as Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities.
This significant investment underscores the increasing interest of traditional financial institutions in the cryptocurrency market, which has transitioned from its previous reputation for fraud and illicit activities into a more accepted asset class. Major players like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley have gained a foothold in this sector.
Notably, just last week, JPMorgan unveiled its own stablecoin, named “JPMD.”
“With the growing involvement of global financial institutions, we anticipate this funding round will help us solidify our role as a foundational element of digital finance,” remarked Yuval Rooz, CEO and co-founder of Digital Asset, in an interview with Finance Newso.
Digital Asset provides a variety of digital asset services to a clientele that includes industry giants such as Goldman Sachs, Citadel, and Virtu. Founded in 2014 by former trader Yuval Rooz, the company competes with other companies in the space, including Ripple, R3, and Consensys.
The new funding will be directed towards enhancing the adoption of the Canton Network, a public blockchain originally developed by Digital Asset, which is now open-source. Canton is designed for financial institutions to facilitate the movement of assets and data while complying with regulatory and privacy requirements.
Financial institutions are utilizing the Canton Network to tokenize a variety of real-world assets including bonds, commodities, and money market funds.
“This investment will enable us to build on the momentum surrounding the Canton Network and expedite the onboarding of additional high-quality assets, bringing blockchain’s transformative potential to institutional scale,” Rooz explained to Finance Newso.
According to Rooz, the network currently supports trillions of dollars’ worth of tokenized assets.
