Industry news often emerges in clusters. Such moments deserve high attention, as a major trend is undoubtedly unfolding behind them.
Just this Monday, stablecoin issuer Circle officially announced that its new blockchain project, Arc, completed a $222 million funding round, reaching an overall valuation of $3 billion. The investor lineup is impressive, including top-tier institutions like BlackRock, Apollo Funds, and the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, among others.
Just the day before, news emerged about another emerging blockchain, Canton Network, developed by Digital Asset: led by a16z, it raised $300 million at a valuation of $2 billion.
Similarly, Stripe's blockchain, Tempo, has been leading the track: it completed a $500 million funding round at the end of last year, reaching a valuation of $5 billion, and later announced strategic partnerships with companies like DoorDash and Visa.
Arc, Canton, and Tempo are all public blockchains tailored for stablecoin and asset tokenization scenarios. This wave of concentrated funding activity has led me to summarize three crucial insights for the crypto industry.
Capital Always Follows Regulatory Legislation
These several hundred-million-dollar funding rounds all occurred after the US Congress passed the 'Genius Act' in July 2025.
I have always believed that before the act's passage, the sluggish and slow progress of US crypto legislation directly dampened industry investment enthusiasm; major institutions were unwilling to rashly deploy capital or build blockchain infrastructure amid unclear regulatory prospects. Now, with regulation clarified, the industry landscape is changing.
No one can be sure whether these projects could maintain their current valuations or secure such large funding rounds without the protection of the 'Genius Act,' but it is certain that regulatory clarity has played a key facilitating role.
For investors, the most thought-provoking question is: If the comprehensive market structure bill for the crypto industry, the 'Clarity Act,' successfully passes Congress, how much industry opportunity will it unlock?
The coverage breadth of the 'Clarity Act' far exceeds that of the 'Genius Act,' and the final text of the bill is not yet set, making it impossible to precisely predict its impact scope at this time. However, it is certain that the asset tokenization track and compliant financial infrastructure will be the biggest beneficiaries. I also hope the final version of the bill will simultaneously benefit decentralized finance, innovative token design, and other areas, but specifics will depend on the official text. The 'Clarity Act' deserves everyone's continuous tracking.
Privacy Protection May Become a Phenomenal Core Application
Arc, Canton, and Tempo share a common feature, which is also their biggest distinction from Ethereum and Solana: all three blockchains natively have private transaction functionality built-in.
As crypto assets gradually integrate into mainstream commercial scenarios, this design logic fits real-world needs very well. The public transparency of a public blockchain, originally the cornerstone of trust-building, can become a shortcoming in commercial settings.
Businesses do not want every pending transaction to be publicly visible, and professionals do not want their salary details to be easily queryable by anyone via a block explorer. In these cases, public transparency is no longer an advantage but a real pain point.
Even the staunchest supporters of blockchain transparency must admit: the business world inherently requires a degree of privacy and confidentiality of information. These three emerging blockchains have pre-embedded privacy features at the foundational design level, accurately addressing the genuine needs of traditional institutions. The recent rounds of high-value funding confirm: the direction of this track is completely correct.
Traditional Giants Officially Enter the Race
The most special aspect of Arc, Canton, and Tempo is their backing by top-tier enterprises and financial institutions.
· Arc is led and developed by the publicly-traded company Circle;
· Canton's backers include Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs, Citadel, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), Nasdaq, BNY Mellon, S&P Global, Virtu, among others;
· Tempo is jointly built by payment giant Stripe and crypto VC Paradigm, with companies like Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Shopify, Visa, and OpenAI participating in the project's architecture design.
In contrast, the older generation of blockchains is quite different: Ethereum was initiated by a 19-year-old dropout on a Bitcoin forum, and Solana was conceived from a moment of inspiration by a Qualcomm engineer.
Of course, this does not mean traditional giants are guaranteed to win. Personally, I remain more bullish on crypto-native projects in the long term. However, it is undeniable that the entry of banks and large tech corporations brings more substantial capital, stronger execution capabilities for real-world implementation, and more professional, standardized operations to the industry.
Competition fosters growth. I believe that through the bidirectional competition between giants and native projects, the innovation speed and developmental boundaries of the entire crypto industry will be further expanded.
After all, steel sharpens steel; competition and cooperation give rise to progress.
