Bitwise CIO Ties GENIUS Act to $1B Crypto Fundraising

TLDR

• Three corporate-backed blockchains raised over $1 billion in combined funding in recent months.
• Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said the GENIUS Act helped unlock institutional capital for crypto projects.
• Circle’s Arc secured $222 million at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation.
• Canton Network sought $300 million at a $2 billion valuation with backing from major financial firms.
• Stripe’s Tempo raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation and added partnerships with global companies.
• Hougan said institutional demand for transaction privacy is shaping new blockchain infrastructure.
• The fundraising followed the passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025.

Three corporate-backed blockchains have secured over $1 billion in recent fundraising rounds. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan linked the surge to regulatory progress and institutional demand. He said the GENIUS Act helped unlock capital as tokenization efforts look toward the pending Clarity Act.

Arc, Canton, and Tempo target privacy-focused infrastructure

Circle’s Arc closed a $222 million token presale at a $3 billion fully diluted valuation. BlackRock, Apollo, and Intercontinental Exchange backed the raise, according to prior reports. Circle develops Arc and issues USDC, the second-largest stablecoin by market value.

Meanwhile, Canton Network sought to raise $300 million at a $2 billion valuation. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, Hougan wrote in a recent memo. Backers include Goldman Sachs, Citadel, DTCC, BNY, S&P Global, Nasdaq, and Virtu.

Stripe incubated Tempo and raised $500 million at a $5 billion valuation late last year. The project later added partnerships with Visa, DoorDash, and other firms. Paradigm-supported development, and teams from Anthropic, Deutsche Bank, Revolut, Shopify, Visa, and OpenAI provided design input.

Hougan said all three chains built native privacy into their transaction models. He argued institutions require confidentiality for trade flows and payroll data. He stated that public transparency can create business risks before execution.

He contrasted these efforts with Ethereum and Solana, which launched with public-first designs. Ethereum began on a Bitcoin forum, while Solana emerged from an engineering breakthrough. Hougan described the new chains as institutionally backed from inception.

GENIUS Act drives funding momentum as Clarity Act looms

Hougan tied the recent fundraising activity to the GENIUS Act, which Congress passed and President Trump signed in July 2025. He said the stablecoin-focused law reduced legal uncertainty for corporate builders. As a result, institutions moved capital into projects with clearer compliance paths.

“Pre-GENIUS, institutions were reluctant to commit capital,” Hougan wrote in his memo. He added that the raises followed quickly after the law took effect. He framed the timing as evidence that regulatory clarity influences allocation decisions.

Hougan also addressed the pending Clarity Act, which aims to define broader crypto market structure rules. He said tokenization platforms and regulated infrastructure providers could benefit most from the final language. He added that support for decentralized finance and new token designs remains possible but unconfirmed.

“My money is mostly on the crypto natives,” Hougan wrote while discussing competitive dynamics. He said the new entrants could raise standards across blockchain development. He did not declare a winner among Arc, Canton, or Tempo.

The combined fundraising across the three projects exceeds $1 billion. Each project announced valuations between $2 billion and $5 billion during recent rounds. The funding followed the enactment of the GENIUS Act and precedes final action on the Clarity Act.

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