CULedger, a credit union service organization (CUSO) focused on distributed ledger technology (DLT), has announced that it has raised $8.5 million in Series A funding, which will continue through November 18, 2018.

Credit Union National Association (CUNA), a not-for-profit trade group serving nearly 7,000 credit unions in the U.S., unveiled the DLT-focused CULedger initiative back in 2016. CULedger was founded by CUNA Strategic Services and Credit Union Strategic Partners and with coordination from CUNA, Mountain West CU Association and Best Innovation Group.

Last year, the initiative, which involves over 30 credit unions and other industry organizations, announced the formation of CULedger, LLC. It became a member of the Hyperledger blockchain project in April 2018.

In October 2017, CULedger set $10 million as the target amount to be raised in Series A funding. Since then, it has secured 32 investors with the majority being credit unions, and more pending. It said that it is well-ahead of schedule to meet its funding goal.

“Having received such a positive response from the credit union community in our efforts to deliver the first universal digital credential through self-sovereign identification, we realize the need for digital identity is widespread,” said John Ainsworth, president and CEO of CULedger. “With the support from our investors, CULedger is positioned to develop distributed ledger solutions for the digital identity crisis, keeping credit unions the most trusted financial institutions.”

Earlier this year, CULedger partnered with Evernym to launch a new consumer-focused digital identity solution, MyCUID. The solution would enable credit union members to protect themselves from financial fraud and identity theft.

According to the official release, CULedger plans to launch its pilot program later this year.