TL;DR
- Etherealize has secured $40 million in funding led by Electric Capital and Paradigm to develop Ethereum-based infrastructure for institutional finance.
- The startup aims to provide privacy-focused trading and settlement systems while modernizing Wall Street’s financial rails.
- With support from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation, the company seeks to accelerate adoption of tokenized assets and position Ethereum as the backbone of institutional finance globally.
Etherealize, a startup founded in January 2025, has raised $40 million to expand the adoption of Ethereum across major financial institutions. Backed by leading investors like Electric Capital and Paradigm, the company plans to create infrastructure enabling banks and asset managers to trade, settle, and tokenize assets on Ethereum securely and efficiently while remaining fully compliant. This round builds on a previous grant from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, which supported initial development, research, and educational initiatives aimed at financial institutions globally.
The funding will allow Etherealize to scale its zero-knowledge (zk) privacy infrastructure for institutional trading, develop settlement engines optimized for tokenized assets, and launch applications to enhance liquidity in tokenized fixed income markets. Danny Ryan, co-founder and President of Etherealize, described the initiative as the beginning of an “Institutional Merge,” upgrading finance to safer, more transparent, and globally accessible rails powered by Ethereum.
Building Bridges Between Institutions And Blockchain
Led by former Wall Street trader Vivek Raman, Ethereum research lead Danny Ryan, and Ethereum veterans Grant Hummer and Zach Obront, Etherealize focuses on educating banks and investment firms about Ethereum’s capabilities while rewriting legacy financial infrastructure. Raman emphasized that the funding accelerates the creation of institutional-grade systems that integrate Ethereum as a seamless backbone for global finance and long-term innovation opportunities.
Etherealize has already made strides in policy, market engagement, and infrastructure development. The team has collaborated with asset managers to bring new tokenized products onchain, supported Layer-2 scaling solutions, improved operational efficiency, and participated in regulatory discussions with the SEC, Treasury, and Congress. Ethereum’s dominance in stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets strengthens the startup’s mission, showing that the network can handle complex institutional workflows with transparency and security.
Wall Street Veterans Driving Ethereum Adoption
Etherealize’s leadership includes top-tier Wall Street veterans and Ethereum engineers, combining financial expertise with blockchain innovation. Figures like Jeff Frase, McAndrew Rudisill, and Jay Katz are contributing to bridging Ethereum and traditional finance. The startup’s efforts aim to make Ethereum the go-to infrastructure for institutional trading and asset tokenization, positioning it as the foundation for the next generation of highly scalable, secure, and efficient financial markets.
