Digital Asset Holdings, the firm behind the Canton Network, is reportedly raising about $300 million at a roughly $2 billion valuation, according toBloomberg, which cited people familiar with the matter. The round is said to be led by a16z crypto and could close in the coming weeks, signaling continued investor appetite for enterprise-grade, privacy-forward blockchain rails designed for regulated finance.
The potential financing would come less than a year after Digital Asset disclosed a $135 million strategic round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets to accelerate Canton Network adoption. The fresh capital would help scale Canton Networkโs ecosystem as financial institutions explore on-chain workflows that preserve privacy and governance controls while enabling asset-tokenization use cases.
In December, Digital Asset, the Canton Network, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced a collaboration to tokenize DTCC-custodied assets on Canton Network, underscoring a concrete path to moving regulated instruments onto a private, interoperable ledger.
DTCCโs latest push adds to a broader momentum around on-chain asset handling. The clearinghouse said it would pilot trading of tokenized versions of a portion of the $114 trillion in assets it custody, with activity slated to begin in July and a full-service launch planned for October, according to reports linked to the initiative.
Meanwhile, Moodyโs announced in March that it had deployed its ratings data on the Canton Network, enabling financial institutions to use independent credit analysis directly within blockchain workflows. The move marked Moodyโs as the first credit ratings agency to publish data on-chain for use in a financial-infrastructure context.
In April, the Japan Securities Clearing Corporation (JSCC) announced that it would test the use of on-chain government bonds on Canton Network, evaluating whether ownership of Japanโs sovereign bonds can be transferred on-chain and used as digital collateral.
Swiss crypto bank Amina disclosed custody and trading support for Canton Coin, the networkโs utility token, becoming the first FINMA-regulated bank to back the token, according to an announcement from Amina.
As the Canton Network pushes deeper into regulated rails, it has drawn mixed reactions within the broader crypto community regarding its approach to decentralization and governance. Yet institutional actorsโfrom clearinghouses to credit-rating agenciesโcontinue to experiment with Canton as a bridge between traditional assets and on-chain processes.
Key takeaways
- Fresh funding at a $2 billion valuation signals ongoing investor confidence in Canton Networkโs enterprise-use case and privacy-oriented design for regulated finance.
- The ecosystem is expanding beyond pilots to tangible tokenization workflows, with DTCCโs collaboration, Moodyโs on-chain data, and JSCCโs government-bond testing illustrating a broadening operational agenda.
- Regulated adoption is advancing alongside the Canton Coin ecosystem, highlighted by Aminaโs custody and trading support as a FINMA-regulated bank.
- The funding cycle comes amid persistent debates about decentralization versus controlled, permissioned rails in the traditional-finance layer of the crypto stack.
- Investors will watch how the upcoming DTCC tokenization pilots and related on-chain implementations perform in real markets and how regulators respond to tokenized assets and on-chain collateralization.
Enterprise rails in motion: whatโs changing for investors and users
The reported $300 million round, if completed, would place Digital Asset in a clearer position to accelerate Canton Networkโs commercial ambitions. By drawing capital into a permissioned, privacy-preserving ledger tailored for banks, asset managers, and other financial institutions, the project aims to reduce counterparty risk and operational friction traditionally associated with moving complex assets onto public blockchains. The leadership by a16z cryptoโan investor with a broad portfolio in infrastructure and selective, enterprise-grade blockchain betsโunderscores a continuing tilt toward assets and workflows that require regulatory-grade controls.
Meanwhile, the DTCC collaboration and its tokenization agenda are particularly noteworthy. Tokenizing DTCC-custodied assets on Canton could serve as a proving ground for how institutional-grade custody, settlement, and risk management operate when assets exist as tokenized representations on a private, auditable ledger. The announced July pilot and October full rollout set clear milestones for market participants watching for scalable, on-chain settlement and collateral frameworks.
Moodyโs on-chain data integration adds a complementary dimension: credit analytics flowing into blockchain workflows could streamline risk assessment and due diligence across tokenized instruments. The once-dominant silos between credit ratings and settlement infrastructure may gradually blur as data becomes clickable within tokenized processes. The on-chain access to independent credit analysis signals a maturation of the use cases anchored in Cantonโs network design.
The on-chain government-bond experiments by JSCC push further the notion that sovereign debt can function as digital collateral within a regulated, interoperable environment. If successful, such tests could influence how central-bank-like operations or cross-border collateral agreements evolve in a hybrid of traditional and digital finance.
Finally, Aminaโs Canton Coin custody and trading support marks a visible step for regulated banks toward integrating native network tokens into their custody and liquidity frameworks. As the first FINMA-regulated bank to back Canton Coin, Aminaโs move may serve as a reference point for other regulated banks considering similar digital-asset rails, while also inviting regulatory scrutiny and clarity about tokenization standards and custody risk.
Taken together, these developments illustrate a broader shift: institutional finance is quietly exploring controlled, auditable, and privacy-conscious blockchain networks as the backbone for on-chain asset tokenization, while investors seek clarity on governance and long-term decentralization dynamics.
As the Canton Network ecosystem pursues live deployments and scale, readers should watch how regulatory signals unfold around on-chain assets and collateral, how tokenized workflows perform in real-market conditions, and which traditional institutions partner most aggressively to harness private-ledger innovation.






