Digital Asset Raises $355M, Citi Tokenizes Pre-IPO Equity, Blockworks Buys Messari

Crypto News

Blockworks has acquired crypto data and market intelligence firm Messari, the companies confirmed in an announcement dated June 12, combining two of the sector’s largest information platforms. Blockworks builds disclosure and investor-relations infrastructure for onchain asset issuers, while Messari, founded in 2018, covers more than 40,000 digital assets and supplies research and market data through an API used by funds, exchanges and developers. The buyer framed the deal as a response to fragmented industry data, arguing that the rise of AI agents makes broad, reliable API access decisive. Blockworks closed a Series A extension in April at a roughly $192 million valuation.

Citi launched Digital Depositary Receipts on June 11, offering tokenized exposure to shares in private companies through SIX’s regulated blockchain venue, SIX Digital Exchange. The bank said it serves as both issuer and custodian of the tokenized receipts, settling and safekeeping them on the same infrastructure — a structure it described as the first time a global financial-services firm has performed both roles for private-company tokenized receipts. The inaugural issuance referenced shares of Kaleido, a tokenization platform Citi has backed. The product targets lengthening pre-IPO timelines, offering investors a liquidity route that avoids third-party special-purpose vehicles and their layered fees.

Digital Asset, developer of the institutional Canton Network, said on June 11 it raised $355 million in a round led by a16z crypto. The investor roster spans Citadel Securities, Coinbase Ventures, HSBC, BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, CME Ventures, S&P Global, SBI Group, SoFi, Tradeweb and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Canton is a privacy-focused public layer-1 built for capital markets, emphasizing compliance, composability and settlement finality. The company plans to spend the capital on ecosystem expansion, deeper ties with financial institutions and continued network growth, while a16z crypto joins as a strategic partner across policy and research.

HashPort and BOOSTRY began evaluating a business alliance announced June 11, centered on linking self-custody wallets with security tokens, or digital securities. The pair aim to grant utility and perk tokens to security-token buyers, issuing them separately on public chains so holders can manage them in an unhosted crypto wallet. The approach, they said, lowers issuer operating costs and improves convenience. Medium-term discussions cover stablecoin-based settlement, dividends and balance management. BOOSTRY, established in 2019 by Nomura Holdings and Nomura Research Institute, operates the ibet for Fin consortium for security tokens.

Japanese exchange bitbank issued a warning on June 15 covering decentralized prediction markets such as Polymarket. The exchange said it will suspend accounts where deposits or withdrawals tied to prediction-market services, or services suspected of links to them, are detected. A suspension freezes all functions, including login, crypto deposits and withdrawals, Japanese yen withdrawals and trading, and the firm said it will not be liable for resulting losses. bitbank argued that accessing such platforms from within Japan for monetary gain may constitute gambling under domestic law, while offering a review channel for wrongly flagged users.

Payment gateway operator NetStars said on June 15 it signed a memorandum of understanding with Startale to advance Web3-style payments. The collaboration widens the digital-currency options usable in NetStars’ StarPay-X initiative, with the parties weighing adoption of the yen-pegged stablecoin JPYSC, which Startale is developing with SBI Group. Unlike algorithmic stablecoins, JPYSC is structured as a trust-based instrument. NetStars, which earlier signed an MOU with Bitget Wallet on June 4, plans to apply its merchant network and cashless payment expertise toward a multi-coin settlement environment bridging conventional and Web3 rails.

Taken together, the week’s developments trace a single arc: institutions are quietly building the plumbing — data consolidation, tokenized private equity, capital-markets blockchains, security-token wallets and regulated stablecoin rails — even as retail conviction stays fragile. COINOTAG’s aggregate market data captures that split: the Fear & Greed Index reads 20 out of 100, deep in Extreme Fear, Bitcoin dominance sits at 70.3%, and total crypto market capitalization is about $1.88 trillion, leaving the broader altcoin complex heavily compressed. With Bitcoin trading near $66,000, the contrast between bear-market sentiment and accelerating infrastructure investment underscores where conviction now lives — in rails, not prices.