Digital Asset Secures $50 Million in Major Funding: Why Are Traditional Financial Giants Betting on the Future of Blockchain?

Ethereum has just completed the Fusaka upgrade, officially entering an accelerated development rhythm of two hard forks per year. Meanwhile, a blockchain network that may profoundly change global financial infrastructure—Canton Network—has received collective endorsement from traditional financial giants.

Blockchain technology company Digital Asset recently announced the completion of a new $50 million strategic funding round. The lineup of investors is impressive: the world’s largest custodian bank BNY Mellon, the world’s second-largest stock exchange Nasdaq, global financial information giant S&P Global, and alternative investment-focused iCapital.

01 Core Event: Strategic Investment by Financial Giants

This $50 million funding round is not an isolated event. Earlier this year, Digital Asset just completed a $135 million round led by DRW Venture Capital and Tradeweb Markets.

Securing large-scale funding consecutively highlights the market’s high recognition of the company and the Canton Network it created.

Canton Network is a public blockchain network designed specifically for regulated financial markets. Unlike traditional blockchains, it allows participants to independently decide which transaction information needs to be confidential and which can be made public, achieving an innovative balance between transparency and privacy.

Currently, Canton Network already supports over $6 trillion in on-chain assets, covering various asset classes including bonds, stocks, money market funds, and commodities.

02 The Giants’ Motives: Strategic Layout Beyond Financial Returns

Traditional financial giants investing real capital is not just a simple financial investment, but a deep deployment closely linked to their own digital transformation strategies.

BNY Mellon, as the world’s largest custodian bank, handles up to $2.5 trillion in daily payment flows. The bank has been actively exploring tokenized deposits and blockchain payments, aiming to shift part of its payment flows onto blockchain rails and modernize cross-border settlements.

Just last month, BNY Mellon also launched a money market fund specifically designed for stablecoin issuers to comply with new US stablecoin regulatory requirements.

Nasdaq has also moved swiftly. In August, Nasdaq applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to list Bitcoin index options (XBTX), aiming to provide investors with a more regulated and familiar way to trade Bitcoin.

John Black, head of Nasdaq index options, made it clear that their goal is “to build a suite of financial architecture around Bitcoin—including ETFs, indexes, and options—to push it across the finish line into widespread legitimacy.”

03 Industry Trend: Accelerated Convergence of Traditional Finance and Crypto Assets

Digital Asset’s successful fundraising is a landmark case in the accelerating convergence of traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi). Digital Asset CEO Yuval Rooz noted that the participation of these institutions reinforces the necessity of building blockchain infrastructure for regulated markets.

This convergence trend is becoming increasingly apparent globally. International banks such as JPMorgan and HSBC have already launched their own tokenized deposit pilot projects. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently announced that spot crypto products will, for the first time, be able to be listed and traded on registered futures exchanges.

The regulatory environment is also developing positively. BNY Mellon executives have advanced several blockchain investments to 2025, partly because the regulatory environment has become more “favorable.”

04 Market Reaction and Gate.io Perspective

Against a backdrop of macro tailwinds, the crypto market has been active recently. As of December 5, according to Gate.io market data, major crypto assets have shown a general upward trend:

• Bitcoin (BTC) is currently at $41,893.0, up +4.42% in 24 hours.
• Ethereum (ETH) is currently at $2,249.21, up +2.02% in 24 hours.
• The BNB Chain ecosystem has recently attracted attention, with the meme coin “Customer Service Xiao He” on it seeing its market cap surpass $9 million at one point.

Although Gate.io market data does not directly provide tokens associated with Canton Network or Digital Asset, the entry of traditional financial giants has injected strong confidence into the entire crypto industry. Asset tokenization (RWA), as one of the core narratives of this bull market, gaining infrastructure recognition may indicate that the relevant sector will see long-term development opportunities.

For astute investors, focusing on the progress of underlying infrastructure is often more forward-looking than chasing individual assets. Canton Network connects a traditional financial market worth tens of trillions of dollars, and its success may give rise to a brand-new form of next-generation financial markets.

Outlook

As BNY Mellon regards tokenized deposits as the key to upgrading its $2.5 trillion daily payment flows, and Nasdaq is committed to building a comprehensive financial architecture around Bitcoin, the wall separating the traditional and crypto worlds is being dismantled by both capital and technology.

The over $6 trillion in on-chain assets on Canton Network is just the beginning. When stocks, bonds, funds, and even commodities are all irreversibly moving toward on-chain representation and settlement, we will be facing a new financial continent where everyone is present, but few are yet fully familiar.