DTCC Launches Tokenization Service as $114T Securities Infrastructure Moves Onchain

DTCC has officially launched its Tokenization Service, bringing blockchain-based representations of traditional securities into production infrastructure used by some of the world's largest financial institutions.

The launch on October 28 represents a major step beyond the tokenization pilots that banks and asset managers have been testing for years.

The Depository Trust Company, or DTC, currently provides custody and asset servicing for more than $114 trillion in securities. Its new service allows eligible participants to convert supported securities held inside DTC into tokenized representations that can move through approved blockchain networks.

DTCC says the tokens retain the ownership rights, investor protections and economic entitlements of the underlying traditional securities.

DTCC Tokenization Service Is Now Live

The new DTCC Tokenization Service, known as DTS, allows eligible DTC participants to mint blockchain-based representations of securities already held at DTC.

Assets can move between their conventional form and tokenized form through minting and burning.

Participants can then receive the tokenized securities in registered digital wallets and use them in blockchain-based financial workflows.

DTCC describes the assets as digital twins rather than independent securities.

The underlying asset remains inside regulated DTC infrastructure while the blockchain representation carries corresponding ownership and economic rights.

That distinction is important.

The service does not attempt to create an entirely separate financial system outside existing securities infrastructure. Instead, it connects blockchain settlement with assets already held inside one of the largest regulated securities depositories in the world.

Bank of America, JPMorgan and Fidelity Are Among the First Users

Twenty DTC participants have already signed agreements to access the new service.

The initial group includes:

• Bank of America

• Barclays

• BNP Paribas

• Citadel Securities

• Citi

• Fidelity Investments

• J.P. Morgan

• Morgan Stanley

• State Street

• UBS

• Brown Brothers Harriman

• Apex Clearing

• Clear Street

• DriveWealth

• Edward Jones

• Marex

• Mirae Asset Securities

• Interchange Clearing

• Alpaca

• Velocity Capital

Additional firms are expected to join on a rolling basis.

The scale of the initial participant list distinguishes the launch from many previous institutional blockchain experiments.

These are firms already deeply embedded in custody, brokerage, asset management, market making and securities settlement.

DTCC also says more than 150 companies contributed to the industry working group used to develop the service.

Stocks, ETFs and US Treasuries Can Be Tokenized

The range of securities that DTC can tokenize is currently limited by regulatory authorization.

Under a no-action letter received from the US Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2025, DTC can tokenize selected highly liquid securities.

These include eligible Russell 1000 stocks, ETFs tracking major indices and US Treasury bills, notes and bonds.

The authorization runs for three years.

DTC is initially supporting a subset of those eligible securities based on participant demand, with the intention of expanding availability over time.

This makes the initiative substantially different from blockchain products that create synthetic exposure to traditional stocks.

DTS tokenizes entitlements associated with actual securities held inside DTC.

Tokenized Assets Can Move 24/7

One of the most significant differences between traditional securities infrastructure and blockchain-based settlement is availability.

Conventional financial markets operate around defined trading, clearing and settlement windows.

Blockchains do not.

DTCC says tokenized security entitlements can be transferred between registered DTC wallets on a 24/7 basis.

That does not automatically mean the underlying stocks themselves become freely tradable worldwide around the clock.

Trading venues, securities regulations, investor eligibility and other market rules still apply.

But the infrastructure creates the possibility for assets to move between approved parties without waiting for conventional settlement windows.

That could become particularly valuable in collateral markets.

Collateral Could Be One of the Biggest Use Cases

Tokenization is often discussed in terms of allowing investors to trade stocks on blockchain networks.

DTCC's production tests suggest another potentially larger use case: collateral mobility.

During limited-production transactions completed in July, DTC-tokenized securities were used in several institutional workflows.

These included collateral pledges, securities lending, US Treasury repo transactions, delivery-versus-payment settlement for equities and Treasuries, equity token transfers and central counterparty margin movements.

In traditional markets, moving collateral between institutions can involve multiple intermediaries and operational processes.

A tokenized security that can be transferred between registered wallets could potentially reduce the time needed to mobilize those assets.

For banks and trading firms managing billions of dollars in collateral, faster movement can translate directly into more efficient use of capital.

Canton and Besu Are Supported at Launch

DTCC has adopted a multi-network strategy rather than building the service around one blockchain.

At launch, DTS connects with the Canton Network and DTCC's private Hyperledger Besu-based network.

Canton is designed specifically for institutional financial applications and combines distributed infrastructure with privacy controls required by regulated market participants.

Besu is an Ethereum-compatible blockchain client commonly used for enterprise and permissioned networks.

DTCC says additional blockchain networks will be added in 2027.

That multichain approach could prove important.

Institutional tokenization is developing across Ethereum, Stellar, Solana, Canton and numerous private networks.

If tokenized securities become trapped inside individual blockchain ecosystems, financial markets risk recreating the same fragmentation that tokenization is supposed to eliminate.

DTCC is therefore making interoperability a central part of the service.

Wallet Infrastructure Is Becoming Part of Wall Street

Tokenization also introduces technology that traditional financial institutions historically did not need to operate.

DTC participants using the service must register blockchain wallets through DTC.

Those wallets can include proprietary wallets as well as client sub-wallets.

DTCC is working with a broader ecosystem of digital-asset infrastructure providers including Fireblocks, BitGo Bank & Trust, Blockdaemon, Taurus and DFNS.

Other collaborators include Ondo, Broadridge, Tradeweb, Virtu, DRW and Talos.

This shows how the boundary between traditional securities infrastructure and crypto infrastructure is becoming increasingly difficult to define.

Wallets, blockchains and token standards are becoming operational components of institutional finance rather than tools limited to cryptocurrency exchanges.

July's Production Test Proved the Model

The October launch follows a major production test conducted on July 15.

DTCC and participating financial institutions converted real DTC-held assets into tokenized representations and used them in live financial transactions.

More than 30 firms participated.

The transactions covered multiple asset classes and use cases, including repo, securities lending, collateral and delivery-versus-payment settlement.

That test was important because institutional blockchain projects frequently remain inside controlled proof-of-concept environments.

DTCC's July exercise involved real production infrastructure and assets.

Three months later, the service has moved into general production.

DTCC Sits at the Center of Traditional Securities Markets

The significance of the launch becomes clearer when viewed against DTCC's existing scale.

DTCC subsidiaries processed securities transactions worth approximately $4.7 quadrillion in 2025.

DTC itself held securities from more than 150 countries and territories worth over $114 trillion.

Its trade repositories process more than 25 billion messages annually.

Tokenization therefore is not being introduced by a startup trying to persuade traditional finance to migrate onto blockchain.

It is being introduced by infrastructure already sitting underneath much of the existing securities market.

That changes the adoption dynamic considerably.

Tokenization Is Moving From Experiments Into Infrastructure

For much of the last decade, institutional blockchain activity consisted largely of pilots.

Banks tokenized a bond.

Asset managers launched experimental funds.

Financial institutions tested repo transactions or collateral settlement on private networks.

Many demonstrations proved that blockchain technology could perform the required task, but production adoption remained limited.

DTCC's launch represents a different stage.

The question is increasingly moving away from whether securities can be tokenized.

The focus is shifting toward how tokenized securities connect with liquidity, custody, collateral, regulation and existing market infrastructure.

Other developments this week reinforce that transition.

Securitize announced plans on October 28 to integrate with Stellar, allowing institutional asset managers to issue and manage tokenized financial products on another public blockchain.

Securitize said it already supports approximately $5 billion in tokenized securities across its platform.

The same day, Pontoro and Archax announced an automated liquidity pool on Stellar designed to connect liquid money-market assets with tokenized private-market funds.

These developments suggest the market is beginning to build the layers surrounding tokenized assets rather than focusing purely on issuance.

Tokenized Securities Still Remain Regulated Securities

Moving a security onto a blockchain does not remove its legal status.

DTCC's system operates within existing securities-market infrastructure and regulatory requirements.

Participation is limited to eligible DTC participants and their clients.

Supported assets are restricted by the SEC authorization.

Wallets must be registered.

And institutions remain responsible for meeting applicable securities, compliance and investor-protection requirements.

That framework may ultimately be one of the biggest reasons DTCC's service matters.

Institutional adoption has rarely been held back by an inability to technically create a token.

The more difficult problem has been creating tokenized assets that large regulated institutions can actually hold, move and use without abandoning the protections and processes surrounding conventional securities.

Wall Street's Onchain Transition Is Becoming Real

The launch of the DTCC Tokenization Service does not mean traditional securities markets suddenly move entirely onchain.

Traditional settlement systems will continue operating alongside blockchain networks.

But the separation between the two is beginning to narrow.

A security held within DTC can now have a blockchain representation.

That representation can move between approved wallets.

It can potentially serve as collateral, participate in repo transactions or settle against other assets.

And it can later be converted back into traditional form.

The key change is interoperability between the two worlds.

For Web3, this may prove more important than simply putting another stock token on a blockchain.

The infrastructure supporting more than $114 trillion in traditional securities is beginning to interact directly with distributed ledgers.

That moves tokenization from a crypto-sector experiment toward something much closer to core financial market infrastructure.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.