DTCC tokenization goes live with 20 Wall Street firms

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the company that clears and settles most U.S. stock and bond trades, turned on its tokenization service on Wednesday. It runs on the Canton Network and on DTCC's own private Besu blockchain, and 34 securities with a combined market value of about $30 trillion are eligible at launch, a DTCC spokesperson told CoinDesk.

What went live

• Assets: selected large-cap stocks from the Russell 1000, exchange-traded funds, and U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
• Backing: every token is backed one-for-one by a security held at DTCC's subsidiary, the Depository Trust Company (DTC).
• Speed: eligible firms can convert securities into tokens during business hours, with DTCC aiming for 15 minutes or less.
• Transfers: once tokenized, the assets can move between registered wallets 24/7, within compliance limits.
• Participants: 20 firms have signed access agreements, among them Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Citadel Securities, Fidelity Investments, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, State Street and UBS.

When we covered the plan on Oct. 17, DTCC was talking about 25 securities on Canton first; the launch list has grown to 34.

Why this is different from "stock tokens"

DTC keeps the official ownership records even while tokens move between wallets. That separates DTCC's approach from synthetic stock tokens, which only track a share price and give no ownership rights. Our guide to tokenized stocks explains the different models, and what is tokenization covers the basics.

"Today marks the culmination of years of work," said DTCC president and CEO Frank La Salla, calling the service a foundation for institutional adoption at scale. It builds on a no-action letter the SEC issued in December that let DTCC tokenize a defined set of securities.

What comes next

DTCC plans to add Stellar and Circle's Arc blockchain in 2027, along with broader support for corporate actions, settlement in digital cash and the use of tokenized securities as collateral. The rest of Wall Street is moving too: Nasdaq and the NYSE are building tokenized trading systems, while ICE's venture with OKX has run into resistance from listed companies — 33 have now objected to having their shares traded there. Citi analysts expect tokenized securities to reach $5.5 trillion by 2030.