Three corporate-backed blockchains built for stablecoins and tokenization have raised over $1 billion in combined funding in recent months, according to reports from The Block. The fundraising wave includes Circle's Arc, which closed a $222 million token presale at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation backed by BlackRock, Apollo, and Intercontinental Exchange. Additionally, Canton Network was reportedly raising $300 million at a $2 billion valuation in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, while Stripe's Tempo blockchain raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation late last year and has since added partnerships with Visa, DoorDash, and others. As reported by The Block, this represents a significant shift toward regulated rails, stablecoins and tokenization as capital moves away from speculation toward infrastructure-focused projects.
According to The Block reports, all three fundraises occurred after Congress passed the GENIUS Act — the stablecoin-focused legislation signed into law by President Trump in July 2025. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan argues that this regulatory clarity helped catalyze the raises by reducing regulatory uncertainty that had previously suppressed institutional capital formation. Pre-GENIUS, institutions were reluctant to commit capital to businesses built on uncertain legal footing, but post-GENIUS, the raises came quickly and at scale. Hougan notes that money follows legislation, and the timing of these raises after the GENIUS Act's passage demonstrates how regulatory clarity can unlock institutional capital formation in the crypto sector.
As reported by The Block, the institutional backing across all three projects represents a significant departure from the origins of dominant public chains. Canton's backers include Goldman Sachs, Citadel, DTCC, BNY Mellon, S&P Global, Nasdaq, and Virtu, while Tempo was incubated by Stripe and Paradigm with design input from Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Shopify, Visa, and OpenAI. Arc is developed by Circle, a publicly listed company and issuer of the second-largest stablecoin, USDC. Hougan noted that this institutional firepower marks a meaningful departure from the origins of dominant public chains, especially considering that Ethereum launched from a Bitcoin forum and Solana from a late-night engineering breakthrough. The corporate entrants are raising the execution bar and accelerating standards, liquidity and investor expectations across the market over the next cycle.
According to The Block reports, the three blockchains each prioritize native transaction privacy in ways that Ethereum and Solana historically have not. Hougan argues that privacy is being recast as an institutional feature, not a concession against transparency, especially when corporate users need discretion to operate on-chain. Businesses may not want trades, payroll or commercial flows exposed through a block explorer, viewing blockchain transparency as a liability rather than a feature. This institutional demand for confidentiality is shaping these chains from the ground up, with native support for private transactions separating them from traditional public blockchains. While Hougan was careful not to declare a winner, he framed the new entrants not as threats to Ethereum and Solana but as catalysts that will raise the competitive standard across the entire space.
Looking ahead, Hougan suggests that the pending Clarity Act could further support tokenization, DeFi and regulated infrastructure if it provides builders with a firmer framework for assets beyond stablecoins. As reported by The Block, the final text of the Clarity Act remains unsettled, but tokenization and regulated financial infrastructure could be the clearest beneficiaries if the bill gives builders a firmer framework for novel token designs and decentralized finance applications. This regulatory evolution could accelerate the institutional phase of crypto development, with corporate entrants joining the fight to raise standards, liquidity and investor expectations across the market over the next cycle.
