Canton Network Expands South Korean Institutional Partnerships

Canton Network is deepening its South Korean institutional ties through investment and agreements with Shinhan, Hanwha Investment & Securities and LG CNS focused on tokenization and financial infrastructure.

Shinhan Investment & Securities and Shinhan Venture Investment joined Digital Asset’s $355 million funding round, led by a16z crypto, in July 2026. Digital Asset, which created Canton Network, named Shinhan Financial Group a strategic investor on July 21, 2026.

The investment amount was not disclosed. Shinhan Financial Group also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canton Foundation in June 2026 to develop a framework for participating in Canton’s governance and cooperating on digital assets and tokenization.

Hanwha Investment & Securities signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Digital Asset on April 22, 2026. Under the deal, Hanwha plans to explore Canton-based financial services and join the network, while Digital Asset will provide technical assistance.

Digital Asset listed Hanwha Investment & Securities among the participants in its $355 million funding round in June 2026.

LG CNS said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Canton Foundation through KITL, its digital-asset infrastructure platform. The partnership is intended to help South Korean financial institutions participate in Canton Network.

Canton Network is a public Layer 1 network designed for institutional finance. Its stated architecture supports tokenized securities, cash, collateral, settlement and related financial workflows, with selective privacy, compliance controls and interoperability.

The partnerships give South Korean financial firms different routes into the Canton ecosystem, including investment in its creator, governance cooperation and infrastructure integration.

“Blockchain adoption in financial markets will be driven by institutions that are ready to move beyond experimentation and into production,” Yuval Rooz, co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset, said.

“As institutional interest in digital assets continues to grow across Asia, we see significant opportunity to support the development of trusted onchain financial infrastructure in South Korea and the broader region,” Seonghun Hong, an investment manager at Shinhan Financial Group, said.