Nasdaq-listed Tharimmune (THAR) has raised around $540 million in a private placement led by DRW and Liberty City Ventures, as the biotech company pivots toward a digital asset treasury (DAT) strategy focused on the canton currency (CC), the company said in a press release on Monday.
THAR is up approximately 30% since the announcement. The little-traded Canton coin, the utility token that powers the Canton Network, a blockchain designed for institutional finance, is 4% lower.
The round also saw participation from a wide range of traditional and crypto-native financial players, including ARK Invest, Bitwave, Broadridge, Clear Street, Copper, Digital Asset, Kaiko, Kenetic, Kraken, Lukka, Polychain Capital, Proof Group, SBI Group, and Tradeweb Markets, among others.
The Canton Foundation, which governs the Canton Network, also joined the round, making Tharimmune the first publicly traded company directly supported by the Foundation.
The company expects to close the deal around November 6, depending on customary conditions. Proceeds will fund the acquisition of Canton coins, operational costs, and a plan to run multiple validator nodes on the Canton Network to earn CC rewards.
Canton Network, backed by major financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, DTCC and BNP Paribas, aims to connect traditional financial infrastructure through interoperable smart contracts. The network reportedly processes more than 500,000 transactions daily, indicating growing institutional adoption.
Tharimmune’s biotech operations will continue under its current team, but the company has named Mark Wendland as CEO to lead the treasury initiative and Mark Toomey as president.
Clear Street acted as sole placement agent and financial advisor to the offering.
Read more: Canton Network Activity Increases as Exchanges Join Validators: Copper Research
