Alta Blockchain Funding Secures $47.5 Million Series A for Privacy-First L1

Alta, formerly known as Metal, announced a $47.5 million Series A round on November 10, 2026. The round, led by Index Ventures, brings the company’s total funding to approximately $80 million and supports development of a privacy-first Layer 1 blockchain for banks, payments firms, and corporate treasuries.

Funding Details and Investor Participation

Index Ventures led the round, with participation from GV, Blackbird Ventures, Square Peg, and Capital49. The prior seed round of $32.5 million had been backed primarily by Airwallex. Valuation for the current round was not disclosed. Alta will use the proceeds to expand engineering and compliance teams, advance core infrastructure, and deepen partnerships with financial institutions.

The company currently employs about 25 people and maintains offices in San Francisco and Melbourne. Co-founder and CEO Loong Wang previously completed a crypto exit and brings experience in quantum computing and drug discovery. President Catherine Porter joined from Meta. The rebrand from Metal to Alta reflects a sharpened focus on regulated finance use cases.

Technical Design and Airwallex Partnership

Alta’s platform relies on recursive zero-knowledge cryptography to enable private transactions, balances, identities, and programmable compliance policies. Institutions can apply sanctions screening, authorization controls, and audit requirements while keeping data confidential. Initial applications target tokenized deposits, stablecoin settlements, real-time FX, and yield generation on idle corporate cash.

Airwallex, an early investor and design partner, will integrate Alta into its global payments network spanning more than 200 countries and 90 currencies. The integration aims to reduce the roughly $4 trillion in prefunded accounts currently held across the payments industry by enabling just-in-time funding and atomic settlement. No token launch or mainnet timeline has been announced.

Market Context and Next Steps

The round occurs against clearer post-2025 U.S. regulatory frameworks for tokenized assets and stablecoins. Institutional demand for compliant on-chain settlement continues to grow, particularly among banks and payments companies seeking to move FX and treasury operations onto programmable rails. Alta positions its architecture to meet those requirements without exposing sensitive transaction data.

Development priorities include scaling the compliance engine, adding enterprise-grade controls, and expanding distribution through existing investor networks. The company has not released specific product milestones beyond continued infrastructure work and hiring of engineers and compliance specialists.