Etherealize, a company focused on building the infrastructure needed to bring traditional financial institutions onto Ethereum, has closed a $40 million funding round led by Electric Capital and Paradigm. This new investment follows a foundational grant from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation in 2024, which helped launch the company’s operations and early outreach to the financial sector. With this latest round, Etherealize is entering a new phase of growth, deepening its role as a key architect of institutional-grade tools for tokenized assets and privacy-preserving settlement on Ethereum.
The company’s mission is ambitious but clear: to modernize the legacy financial system by integrating it with Ethereum’s programmable, decentralized infrastructure. Etherealize is developing a suite of technologies specifically designed for institutional use, including a zero-knowledge privacy infrastructure for secure trading and settlement, a settlement engine tailored to the workflows of tokenized assets, and applications that bring liquidity and utility to tokenized fixed-income markets. These tools are not just technical upgrades—they are designed to reshape how institutions interact with digital assets, making Ethereum a viable and compelling foundation for the next generation of financial services.
Etherealize was founded by a team with deep roots in both traditional finance and the Ethereum ecosystem. Vivek Raman, a former Wall Street trader, brings firsthand experience of institutional workflows and market structure. Danny Ryan, previously a research lead at the Ethereum Foundation, contributes a deep understanding of Ethereum’s technical roadmap and governance. Grant Hummer and Zach Obront round out the founding team with years of experience building in the Ethereum space. Together, they’ve assembled a group of experts that includes veterans from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Lehman Brothers, and top cryptography engineers, all working toward the same goal: to make Ethereum the backbone of institutional finance.
Since its launch in January 2025, Etherealize has made rapid progress. The team has engaged with hundreds of banks, asset managers, and payment networks, helping shape product development and educate stakeholders about Ethereum’s capabilities. They’ve worked with asset managers to bring new tokenized assets on-chain and supported Layer-2 blockchains in scaling adoption. Their research has helped shift the narrative around Ethereum, positioning it as a credible reserve asset and a foundation for institutional treasury strategies. Etherealize has also played a role in shaping policy, contributing to regulatory discussions and testifying before Congress on digital asset legislation.
Ethereum itself has matured into a global financial infrastructure layer, processing the vast majority of stablecoin volume and tokenized real-world assets. Its appeal to institutions continues to grow, with major players like JPMorgan, Apollo, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, BlackRock, and UBS exploring or actively using Ethereum-based solutions. Etherealize is building the connective tissue that enables these institutions to transition from experimentation to full-scale adoption, providing tools that meet their standards for security, compliance, and performance.
How the funding will be used: The new funding will allow Etherealize to accelerate development, expand its team, and deepen its relationships across Wall Street and the broader financial ecosystem. The company is focused not just on building technology, but on creating a bridge between two worlds that have historically operated in parallel. By aligning Ethereum’s open, programmable infrastructure with the needs of regulated institutions, Etherealize is helping to unlock a new era of financial innovation—one where transparency, efficiency, and global accessibility are no longer trade-offs, but core features.
KEY QUOTES:
“Over the past decade, Ethereum has gone from an experiment to the world’s most battle-tested, open financial network. This raise kicks off the ‘Institutional Merge’—upgrading institutional finance to modern, safer, globally accessible rails.”
Danny Ryan, cofounder and President of Etherealize
“After hundreds of conversations with banks and institutions, one thing is clear: the future of finance will be built on Ethereum. This funding allows us to accelerate the development of institutional-grade infrastructure that rewires Wall Street with Ethereum as its invisible backbone. We’re proud to not only be a leading voice for Ethereum on Wall Street, but to also be an engineering powerhouse driving the next wave of institutional blockchain adoption.”
Vivek Raman, CEO of Etherealize
