The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is launching its Tokenization Service in October 2026, making approximately $30 trillion in DTC-custodied U.S. securities eligible for on-chain representation. The service opens with 25 securities—spanning Russell 1000 equities, major-index ETFs, and U....
"DTCC demonstrated that we can apply the same institutional rigor to tokenization as we do for traditional assets." — Frank La Salla, President and CEO, DTCC
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation is launching its Tokenization Service in October 2026, making approximately $30 trillion in DTC-custodied U.S. securities eligible for on-chain representation. The service opens with 25 securities—spanning Russell 1000 equities, major-index ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries—deployed across two blockchain networks with fundamentally different trust architectures: Canton (using the CIP-56 token standard) and DTCC's private Hyperledger Besu instance (using ERC-20).
The launch follows a July 15 production milestone in which more than 30 firms—including J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, BlackRock, Nasdaq, and CME Group—processed live trades using DTC-tokenized assets. The SEC's Division of Trading and Markets issued a no-action letter on December 11, 2025, granting DTC a three-year authorization window to operate the service. DTCC's industry working group has grown to over 100 members and partners.
This represents the largest scope of institutional tokenization infrastructure deployed to date, measured by underlying asset value. It arrives into a tokenized RWA market that has reached approximately $39 billion in on-chain value (excluding stablecoins), according to rwa.xyz data as of September 2026—a sixfold increase from roughly $6.5 billion in early 2025.
DTCC's decision to launch on two networks simultaneously is the service's most structurally significant feature. The two chains reflect different design philosophies for institutional blockchain infrastructure.
Canton Network (CIP-56 token standard). Canton is a public, permissioned network built by Digital Asset using the Daml smart contract language. CIP-56 replaces Ethereum's global, public, permissionless state model with a privacy-first, identity-centric framework. Token holdings use a registry-mediated UTXO model rather than a shared global balance sheet. Counterparties see only transaction data they are party to. Canton is designed for regulated financial markets where confidentiality between counterparties is a compliance requirement, not an optional feature.
Hyperledger Besu (ERC-20 token standard). DTCC operates its own private Besu network—an enterprise variant of Ethereum technology maintained under the Linux Foundation's Decentralized Trust umbrella. Tokens on Besu use the standard ERC-20 interface. This network operates as DTCC's proprietary infrastructure, giving the clearinghouse direct operational control over consensus, validator sets, and network upgrades.
The architectural split means the same underlying DTC-custodied security can exist as two different token types on two different chains, each with distinct privacy, composability, and governance characteristics. DTC remains the official record keeper in both cases. Tokens are "digital twins"—representations backed 1:1 by securities held at The Depository Trust Company.
The service operates within a defined conversion window. DTC participants can submit conversion requests between 2:00 AM and 6:00 PM ET on business days, with processing completed in under 15 minutes, according to DTCC. Once converted, tokens can be transferred between registered wallets at any hour—including weekends and after-market hours—on the same chain. Return to book-entry form is processed through the same service window.
Key operational constraints at launch:
Brian Steele, President of Clearing & Securities Services at DTCC, stated that the service "successfully showcased how tokenization can enable real-time collateral mobility, enhance liquidity and capital efficiency."
The July 15, 2026 production event was structured as a coordinated multi-party exercise using live DTC infrastructure. More than 30 organizations participated, spanning traditional finance and digital asset firms.
Participants included Alpaca, BetaNXT, BitGo Bank & Trust, BlackRock, Blockdaemon, BNP Paribas Securities Corporation, Chainlink, Citadel Securities, CME Group, DriveWealth, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Marex, Nasdaq, Société Générale, Tradeweb, and Velocity Capital, among others.
Seven distinct use cases were demonstrated in the production environment:
| Use Case | Description | |----------|-------------| | Collateral Pledge | Tokenized securities pledged as collateral | | Security Lending | Lend/borrow flows using tokenized assets | | U.S. Treasury/Repo DVP | Delivery-versus-payment for Treasury and repo | | Equity DVP | Delivery-versus-payment for equity trades | | Equity DVD | Delivery-versus-delivery for equity swaps | | Equity Token Transfer | Peer-to-peer token movement between wallets | | CCP Margin Workflows | Tokenized assets satisfying CME margin requirements |
The CCP margin use case—where tokenized assets were used to satisfy CME Group's margin requirements—carries particular structural significance. If tokenized securities can serve as margin collateral across clearinghouses on a 24/7 basis, the capital efficiency implications for prime brokerage and derivatives clearing are substantial.
Assets tokenized during the exercise included the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ETF, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), U.S. Treasury securities, and select equities.
The DTCC launch enters a market where at least three distinct tokenization models are competing for institutional adoption.
Model 1: CSD-led infrastructure (DTCC). DTCC's approach routes through existing market plumbing. DTC remains the custodian and record keeper. Tokens are representations of securities that already exist within the DTC system. This model preserves the existing custody chain and regulatory wrapper while adding blockchain-based transferability. The target audience is DTC's existing participant base—broker-dealers, banks, and institutional investors.
Model 2: Native issuance platforms (Securitize). On October 8, 2026, Securitize launched Securitize Stocks—12 tokenized U.S. equities on Solana, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, and Meta. Tokens are structured as security entitlements under UCC Article 8, backed 1:1 by real shares, with dividends and shareholder rights preserved. Settlement occurs in USDC. Securitize targets both U.S. and EU-eligible investors and plans to expand toward 24/7 trading and listings on NYSE and OKX ICE. Securitize Holdings (NYSE: SECZ) rose 11.75% on announcement day.
Model 3: Tokenized fund products (BlackRock BUIDL). BlackRock's BUIDL fund—a tokenized U.S. Treasury money market fund launched in March 2024 via Securitize—reached approximately $2.9 billion in AUM across eight chains as of July 2026. BUIDL operates as a traditional fund structure with blockchain-based share transfer, targeting institutional liquidity management and DeFi collateral use cases.
These three models are not mutually exclusive. DTCC's service could ultimately tokenize the same securities that Securitize wraps independently, creating parallel on-chain representations of identical underlying assets through different legal and custody structures.
DTCC has confirmed a multi-chain expansion for 2027. The Stellar Development Foundation and DTCC plan to enable DTC-custodied assets to be tokenized on the Stellar network in the first half of 2027, using the SEP-41 token standard. Circle's Arc network—which launched on mainnet in September 2026—is also expected to join in 2027, using ERC-20 tokens. DTCC already serves as one of Arc's founding validators.
The multi-chain roadmap extends beyond network additions. DTCC has outlined future capabilities including on-chain settlement, collateral management and netting, digital cash integration, and expanded corporate actions (dividends, splits, and other entitlements processed on-chain).
This positions DTCC as a potential hub-and-spoke operator for institutional tokenization—where DTC custody serves as the hub, and multiple blockchain networks serve as spokes for different participant communities and use cases.
The SEC's Division of Trading and Markets issued its no-action letter to DTC on December 11, 2025. The letter authorizes a three-year operating window for the tokenization service, covering the conversion of DTC-custodied assets into tokenized form on pre-approved blockchains.
The no-action letter defines eligible asset scope: Russell 1000 constituents, ETFs tracking major U.S. equity indices, and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds, and notes. The letter does not constitute formal rulemaking—it represents staff-level comfort that DTC will not face enforcement action for operating the service within the stated parameters.
The three-year window implies a sunset review. If the SEC staff determines the service creates unforeseen risks—or if rulemaking codifies tokenization standards before 2028—the no-action relief could be modified or withdrawn.
According to Nadine Chakar, Managing Director and Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets: "Innovation requires collaboration. Because of DTCC's role in global financial markets, we convened key industry participants" to develop the service framework.
DTCC's launch arrives into a rapidly expanding tokenized asset market. Key data points as of September-October 2026:
The $30 trillion in eligible DTCC assets dwarfs the current $39 billion tokenized market by approximately 770x. Even a fractional conversion rate would meaningfully expand on-chain asset value. However, eligible does not mean converted. The initial launch scope of 25 securities suggests a deliberately measured rollout, with expansion contingent on participant demand and operational confidence.
The DTCC tokenization service represents a structural shift in how U.S. market infrastructure engages with blockchain technology. Several implications merit attention:
Collateral mobility. The ability to move tokenized securities between registered wallets outside of market hours could reduce overnight funding costs and improve collateral allocation across clearing members. The CME margin use case tested on July 15 demonstrates the direction.
T+0 settlement pathway. While the initial service focuses on token conversion and transfer rather than on-chain settlement, DTCC's roadmap includes settlement capabilities. The U.S. market completed its transition from T+2 to T+1 settlement in May 2024. Tokenization provides the infrastructure layer for an eventual T+0 move, though regulatory and operational barriers remain.
Custody chain preservation. Unlike native crypto-issuance models, the DTCC approach maintains the existing custody chain. DTC remains the central securities depository. This means existing investor protections, entitlements, and regulatory oversight transfer to the tokenized form, reducing legal uncertainty for institutional adopters.
Fragmentation risk. Two chains at launch, four by 2027, with more planned afterward. Each chain uses different token standards (CIP-56, ERC-20, SEP-41). Cross-chain transfers are not supported at launch. If the service scales, interoperability between chain-specific token representations will become a critical infrastructure problem.
DTCC's tokenization service is the most consequential piece of blockchain infrastructure deployed by a central securities depository to date, measured by eligible asset scope. The $30 trillion figure is an upper bound, not a forecast—actual conversion volumes will depend on participant demand, operational reliability, and the development of use cases that generate measurable economic benefits over book-entry alternatives.
The two-chain launch model—Canton for privacy-centric workflows, Besu for Ethereum-compatible standards—creates optionality for different institutional requirements but introduces fragmentation from day one. As additional networks join in 2027, the question shifts from whether institutional securities will move on-chain to how interoperability across chain-specific token representations will be managed.
The competitive landscape is taking shape around three distinct models: CSD-led infrastructure (DTCC), native issuance platforms (Securitize), and tokenized fund structures (BlackRock BUIDL). Each serves different market segments and operates under different regulatory wrappers. The likelihood of convergence—or continued fragmentation—will be determined by which model delivers the clearest reduction in settlement cost, collateral friction, and counterparty risk.
The current $39 billion tokenized RWA market is about to encounter $30 trillion in eligible supply. The conversion rate over the next 12 months will be the metric that matters.