Digital Asset secured $10 million in new funding from Shinhan Financial Group and SC Ventures, the investment arm of Standard Chartered, according to the company's announcement. The addition expands the enterprise blockchain infrastructure company's current fundraising round to $365 million at a $2 billion valuation.
Both investors are regulated financial institutions with global operations. Shinhan is South Korea's largest bank by assets; Standard Chartered operates across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Their participation reflects continued institutional appetite for onchain financial infrastructure as legacy banks explore blockchain-based settlement and clearing systems.
Digital Asset has raised capital at the $2 billion valuation across multiple tranches. The company's Canton protocol is designed to enable multiparty workflows on a single distributed ledger, with particular focus on post-trade settlement and asset tokenization. Banks including Bank of America, Barclays, Citi and SIX have tested or deployed Canton-based systems.
The funding environment for blockchain infrastructure companies has been uneven since 2023, when venture capital allocated to crypto fell sharply following the collapse of FTX. Strategic rounds anchored by regulated financial institutions have become more common than venture-led raises as banks move beyond research and into pilot deployments.
Shinhan and Standard Chartered join earlier backers in the round, which Digital Asset has described as oversubscribed. The company did not name other participants or disclose the timing of earlier tranches in this round.
The $2 billion valuation has held steady across tranches, a rare occurrence for a blockchain infrastructure company. Digital Asset remains private and does not disclose revenue figures.
Shinhan's participation marks its first disclosed blockchain infrastructure investment at this scale. Standard Chartered has invested in blockchain companies before, including prior commitments to other distributed ledger platforms.
