Standard Chartered and Shinhan add $10m to Canton Network builder Digital Asset
Digital Asset's funding round grows to $365m as SC Ventures and Shinhan back Canton Network, holding a $2bn valuation steady.
Digital Asset, the firm behind the permissioned blockchain Canton Network, has taken a further $10 million from Shinhan Financial Group and SC Ventures, the venture arm of Standard Chartered, without any change to its $2 billion equity valuation. The fresh capital lifts the company’s ongoing funding round to $365 million, according to reports from CryptoDaily and The Block.
The involvement of two established financial institutions rather than crypto-native venture funds underscores the direction Digital Asset has taken since Canton Network’s launch: courting regulated banks and asset managers rather than retail-facing exchanges. Shinhan is one of South Korea’s largest financial conglomerates, while SC Ventures is the innovation and investment unit of the London-headquartered bank Standard Chartered.
A steady valuation despite fresh capital
Holding the $2 billion valuation constant while adding new investors suggests Digital Asset priced this tranche as an extension of an existing round rather than a fresh pricing event. That structure is common when late-stage backers seek exposure to a company without disturbing the terms already agreed with earlier participants in the $365 million raise.
Canton Network positions itself as infrastructure for institutional-grade tokenisation, aiming to let banks and asset managers settle and interoperate across permissioned ledgers while retaining privacy controls that public blockchains typically lack. The network has built incentive programmes and builder funds intended to draw developers and financial institutions onto the platform, an approach that both source reports flagged as central to its growth strategy.
Banks doubling down on permissioned ledgers
The additional backing from Shinhan and SC Ventures adds to a pattern of traditional lenders committing capital to enterprise blockchain infrastructure rather than to public networks or tokens. For Standard Chartered, the investment via SC Ventures follows the bank’s broader push into digital asset custody and tokenisation services, while Shinhan’s participation reflects South Korean financial groups’ continued interest in blockchain settlement rails.
Neither Digital Asset nor the two investors have disclosed further terms of the transaction, including whether the $10 million came with board seats, warrants or other conditions attached. The company has not confirmed whether the $365 million total marks the close of the round or whether further tranches remain open to additional institutional investors.
For European and UK readers watching the institutionalisation of digital assets, the deal is another data point in a broader trend: regulated banks are increasingly willing to fund the plumbing of tokenised finance directly, rather than simply experimenting with pilots on networks they do not have a stake in.
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