Odaily Planet Daily reports that Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, said privacy is becoming a core infrastructure focus for the next phase of the crypto industry. Recently, three institutional-grade blockchains focused on stablecoins and asset tokenization—Arc, Canton, and Tempo—have collectively raised over $1 billion, signaling rapidly growing institutional demand for privacy-friendly on-chain financial systems.
Among them, stablecoin issuer Circle invested $222 million in Arc, valuing the company at approximately $3 billion; Digital Asset’s Canton blockchain is reportedly seeking $300 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation; and Tempo, backed by Stripe and Paradigm, previously completed a $500 million funding round at a $5 billion valuation.
Hougan noted that this funding surge reflects three key trends: the gradual clarification of the U.S. regulatory framework, increasing institutional demand for on-chain privacy, and intensifying competition from enterprise-backed new blockchain networks. Current public blockchains still face structural trade-offs among speed, cost, security, and privacy, while stablecoins and RWA tokenization scenarios require systems that simultaneously deliver high performance, compliance, and privacy—making "verifiable privacy" a critical prerequisite for institutional adoption of on-chain finance.
Hougan further stated that for enterprises, “all transactions are publicly broadcast” is not an advantage but a potential drawback; future users and institutions may increasingly find it difficult to accept a fully transparent on-chain financial environment. He believes that privacy capabilities are poised to become the “killer app” driving the crypto industry into its next phase of mainstream adoption. Additionally, after the passage of the U.S. Genius Act in 2025, increased regulatory certainty has provided a clearer policy foundation for institutional capital to enter the crypto infrastructure sector. (CoinDesk)