Digital Asset Secures $52 Million from 13 Global Financial Firms
New York-based Digital Asset Holdings (DAH), the Blythe Masters-led firm that provides distributed ledger technology solutions for the financial services industry has completed a round of funding that exceeded $50 million from varied leading firms in the financial industry.
The announcement was made last week when the blockchain startup revealed 13 global firms in the financial ecosystem who invested in the company.
The thirteen firms are:
ABN AMRO, Accenture, ASX Limited, BNP Paribas, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., Citi, CME Ventures, Deutsche Börse Group, ICAP, J.P. Morgan, Santander InnoVentures, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.
JP Morgan Chase was revealed to be the lead investor among them all, a financial institution where Digital Asset CEO Blythe Masters was formerly an executive. Masters revealed that the investors were chosen to represent various facets of the banking eco-system with representatives from banks, stock exchanges, clearing houses, central securities depositories and market infrastructure & professional services providers.
In a statement, she revealed:
Our strategic investors have come together from across the financial services industry to help drive global adoption of transformative solutions which enhance the vital services that they provide.
The news coincided with another announcement that revealed Digital Asset had also gained an investor in Australia’s biggest stock exchange, the ASX. The US firm will also trial blockchain technology among post-trade systems used by the ASX in 2016. The real world trial, if successful, will replace the existing clearing and settlement system used by the ASX for the next two decades. With its investment of AUD $14.9 million for a 5% equity interest in Digital Asset, the ASX also purchases the right for further equity and the appointment of one of its own as a board member in DAH, in the future.
The closure of the funding round also sees the various investors now being represented in Digital Asset’s Board of Directors, which expands to nine members. One of the new directors is Mike Bodson, president and CEO of DTCC (the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation) who recently claimed that the financial industry has a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine and modernize its infrastructure” with distributed ledger technology.
The statement was made along with the release of a DTCC white paper that called for global financial markets to explore distributed ledger technology.
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