Digital Asset Shapes Future of Interoperable Applications
With a growing customer base and partner ecosystem, 2020 was a banner year for Digital Asset; our customer base tripled and our partner ecosystem doubled in size.
Daml is an open source smart contract language used by developers to write and deploy full-stack, distributed applications for DLT, blockchain, or databases in days. It is purpose-built to support multiparty business workflows in any industry with widespread adoption in finance -- CBInsights, ranked Daml as one of the 10 most popular Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT ) networks to build capital markets infrastructure services -- and growing interest in healthcare, supply chain and other markets. With Daml, developer teams can get to market faster, focus on their core value, and unleash web-paced innovation for all industries.
“Daml has solidified its role as the de facto standard for modern systems of record,” said Yuval Rooz, Co-founder and CEO of Digital Asset. “The potential for smart contracts is even larger than first thought, and that interest has driven huge demand for Daml across many new industries and use cases. Enterprises are turning to Daml as a low-risk, high return solution because it gives them the ability to capitalize on smart contract technology with their existing internal systems, with the option to branch across distributed ledger technologies in the future.”
New Customers and Partners Reflect Rapidly Expanding Daml Adoption Globally
Innovative customers adopted Daml in 2020 to drive their digital transformations and future-proof their businesses. Companies such as BNP Paribas and ISDA choose Daml to build applications for new DLT-based trading platforms, automate and digitize processing workflows and to enable developers to build sophisticated and secure solutions in a fraction of the time it would take with legacy languages. The company also saw growing adoption of Daml across some of the world’s largest financial markets and landmark blockchain projects in Asia, including its continued work with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and new customers Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) and the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). Digital Asset expects to be working with 5 of the top 10 exchanges by the end of 2021. In addition, Daml was named the exclusive smart contract language for China’s Blockchain Services Network (BSN).
The number of companies in the Digital Asset partner network doubled in 2020, expanding to include working with companies such as Microsoft, Accenture, Baymarkets, Block8, Brillio, DigitalX, Exberry, GFT, Infosys, Innover Digital, IntellectEU, Knoldus, Magic FinServ, Red Date Technology (to integrate Daml smart contract technology with China’s Blockchain Services Network), Tech Mahindra, VMware and Wipro.
Added Funding and Leadership to Support Growth
In February 2020, venture arms for tech giant Samsung and CRM company Salesforce invested in a second Series C funding round for Digital Asset. In July, VMware also invested in Digital Asset’s Series C financing round, bringing the total amount raised by Digital Asset to $150 million. Digital Asset expanded its corporate operations in 2020, hiring a new Head of Developer Relations, Head of Business Development in EMEA and a new Head of Business Development in the Americas, as well as expanding teams in the UK and Hong Kong.
Growing Daml Support for Widely Used DLT Platforms and Enterprise Databases
Throughout 2020, Digital Asset announced new or enhanced drivers, bringing the power of Daml application development to the most widely used distributed ledger platforms and enterprise-grade databases. The company also expanded its certification program, responding to requests from enterprises to become Daml-certified.
- Daml for Corda: Digital Asset announced the availability of Daml for Corda, pairing the power and simplicity of Daml smart contracts with a privacy-enabled enterprise distributed ledger platform.
- Daml for VMware Blockchain: VMware expanded its partnership with Digital Asset, announcing deeper Daml integration with the release of VMware Blockchain 1.0, giving customers developing Daml applications an enterprise grade blockchain platform trusted by the world’s largest organizations.
- Daml for PostgreSQL: Daml for PostgreSQL eliminates the cost and maintenance of outdated processes with multi-party applications on any PostgreSQL compliant database, including Amazon Aurora and RDS, Google Cloud SQL, Microsoft AzureDB, and more.
- Digital Market Infrastructure: In collaboration with Exberry, Digital Asset rolled out a new digital asset exchange and settlement platform. Built using Daml, Project: DABL and Exberry’s matching engine to start, this cloud-based solution enables market participants to rapidly launch a fully-compliant, end-to-end platform encompassing registry, custody, trading, and matching services.
- CBDC Interoperability: Of particular note, Digital Asset started working with several central banks to enable CBDC interoperability, a critical component necessary for CBDCs to be compatible across different DLT and database platforms.
Expanded Daml Certification and Community Resources
Spurred by demand from enterprises to be Daml-certified, Digital Asset announced expanded Daml Certification, empowering developers to build full-stack, distributed applications in just days for any industry. The tiered program arms Daml developers with a comprehensive set of credentials that empower them to build fundamentally new, interoperable and collaborative applications.
To learn more about Digital Asset and follow the rise of Daml:
Read the full press release here.