Privacy Could Be the Next 'Killer App' for the Cryptocurrency Industry, as Arc, Canton, and Tempo Have Raised Over $1 Billion in Funding

BlockBeats News, May 13th, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that with stablecoins and asset tokenization entering the mainstream financial system, "privacy" is becoming a core focus in the competition of crypto infrastructure. Recently, three blockchains focusing on stablecoins and tokenization scenes, Arc, Canton, and Tempo, have raised a total of over $1 billion in funding, with a total valuation exceeding $100 billion.

Among them, Circle's Arc, with a valuation of about $30 billion, completed a $222 million financing round; Digital Asset, with a valuation of about $20 billion, is seeking a $300 million financing round for the Canton blockchain; Tempo, supported by Stripe and Paradigm, has previously raised $500 million, with a valuation of $50 billion.

In his blog, Hougan pointed out that this round of funding frenzy reflects three major trends: the gradually clear U.S. regulatory environment, the rising demand for privacy-oriented blockchains in the market, and the intensified competition between enterprise-backed crypto networks.

He believes that traditional public blockchains have long faced trade-offs between speed, cost, and security, while the stablecoin and RWA tokenization scenes have a higher demand for "privacy, compliance, and security." Compared to fully transparent public blockchains, institutions prefer that transaction data not be publicly exposed.

"If a company broadcasts every transaction to the world before it is completed, or if employee salaries can be viewed by any blockchain explorer, then transparency is not an advantage but a flaw," Hougan said.

He also mentioned that with the U.S. Congress passing the "GENIUS Act" in 2025, institutions' confidence in investing in crypto infrastructure has significantly increased, and regulatory clarity is driving more traditional capital into the on-chain financial market.