UPDATED 00:35 EDT / OCTOBER 17 2017

EMERGING TECH

Digital Asset raises $40M for its blockchain-based financial platform

Two-year-old startup Digital Asset Holdings LLC Monday said it has raised $40 million toward building blockchain platforms for financial institutions.

The company aims to improve efficiency, security, compliance and settlement speed within financial systems. Its tailored business logic applications use privately permissioned networks that employ a cryptographically secure and shared infrastructure. The goal is to deliver software with the potential to improve post-trade processing efficiency and security while reducing cost, latency, errors, risk and capital requirements.

Headed by renowned former JP Morgan Chase Managing Director Blythe Masters (pictured), Digital Asset has surged ahead in its development of financial technology blockchain platforms. For one, it has gone on an acquisition binge, buying Hyperledger, Bits of Proof, Blockstack and Elevence.

It also has signed a lot of partnerships, including a deal with the Australian Stock Exchange in 2016 under which it will use blockchain to radically speed up settlement on the exchange, as well as a deal with JP Morgan Chase that offers similar benefits. In March 2016, Digital Asset signed a significant deal with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., the clearinghouse for managing financial repurchasing agreements. Those are a form of short-term borrowing for dealers in government securities whereby the dealer sells the government securities to investors, usually on an overnight basis, and buys them back the following day.

Along with announcing the new funding, Digital Asset also said it had hired Clyde Rodriguez, former co-chief technology officer at Two Sigma Investments, as chief information officer and chief technology officer of engineering. “Distributed Ledger Technology has the potential to bring greater transparency, security and efficiency to financial services and beyond,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “We are in the early stages of an important technological transformation that requires strong engineering discipline to deliver credible and practical solutions.”

Including the new round, Digital Asset has raised $110 million to date. Previous investors include ABN AMRO, Accenture, ASX, BNP Paribas, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Citi Group, CME Ventures, Deutsche Börse Group, IBM, ICAP, J.P. Morgan, Santander InnoVentures, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and The PNC Financial Services Group.

The Series B round was led by Jefferson River Capital that included participation from unnamed new and previous investors. The company didn’t formally say what it would use the new funding for, but Chief Executive Masters did tell Reuters that at least some of the money would be used to expand its headcount.

Photo: Btcgeek/Wikimedia Commons

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