DTCC authorized to offer custodial asset tokenization services to accelerate the adoption of digital assets

Source: DTCC Official Website, Compiled by Golden Finance

To promote the adoption of digital assets, the leading post-market infrastructure in the global financial services industry — the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in the United States — announced that its subsidiary, the Depository Trust Company (DTC), has received a No-Action Letter from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), allowing it to provide a new service in a controlled production environment under federal securities laws and regulations, which will tokenize real-world assets held by DTC. DTC expects to launch this service in the second half of 2026.

SEC authorizes DTC to provide three-year tokenization services on pre-approved blockchain networks. According to the letter, DTC will be able to tokenize real-world assets, with their digital versions enjoying the same rights, investor protections, and ownership as traditional assets. Additionally, DTC will offer levels of resilience, security, and robustness comparable to traditional markets.

This authorization applies to a range of specific high-liquidity assets, including the Russell 1000 Index (representing the 1,000 largest publicly listed U.S. companies), ETFs tracking major indices, as well as government bonds, fixed-income securities, and stocks. The SEC’s No-Action Letter is significant because it allows DTC to accelerate the deployment of this service under certain restrictions and statements.

“I want to thank the SEC for their trust. The tokenization of the U.S. securities market is expected to bring many transformative benefits, such as increased collateral liquidity, new trading models, 24/7 trading, and programmable assets. But only with a solid market infrastructure can we usher in this new digital era,” said Frank La Salla, President and CEO of DTCC. “We are very pleased to take this opportunity to further empower the industry, our participants, and their clients, and to drive innovation. We look forward to collaborating with industry stakeholders to securely and reliably realize the tokenization of real-world assets, thus advancing the future of finance for generations to come.”

The SEC’s No-Action Letter is a key driver in DTCC’s broader strategy to promote a secure, transparent, and interoperable digital asset ecosystem, fully leveraging blockchain technology’s potential.

“Since its inception, DTCC has been dedicated to pioneering breakthrough technologies, reshaping market dynamics, and maintaining market integrity. Our tokenization initiative builds on this foundation, enabling us to collaborate with industry players to usher in the digital marketplace era,” said Brian Steele, President and Managing Director of DTCC’s Clearing and Securities Services. “We will work with clients and the broader market to achieve securities tokenization with uncompromising security, a solid legal foundation, and seamless interoperability—all built on the resilience that has supported traditional markets for decades.”

To support this strategy, DTCC’s tokenization solution will enable DTC participants and their clients to utilize comprehensive tokenization services supported by DTCC’s ComposerX platform suite. This will allow DTC to create a unified liquidity pool across traditional finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems, building a more resilient, inclusive, cost-effective, and efficient financial system.

“Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has the power to reshape markets, and DTCC is leading this transformation through innovative initiatives and bold solutions,” said Nadine Chakar, Managing Director and Head of Digital Assets at DTCC. “Our suite of DLT products will underpin DTCC’s tokenization services and work hand-in-hand with the industry to develop a new digital asset ecosystem accessible to all.”

DTC collaborates with participants, peers, and technology providers, exploring and promoting the use of DLT technology over the past decade to determine how to leverage this technology to enable market participants to benefit from blockchain and tokenization advantages, including liquidity (the ability to transfer assets across jurisdictions and time zones without regard to standard trading hours or holidays), decentralization (market participants can access their assets more directly), and programmability (using smart contracts to optimize asset transfer or distribution), all with the same protections and accountability mechanisms provided by DTC.

According to the SEC’s authorization, DTC is permitted to provide limited tokenization services in production environments on L1 and L2 network providers. DTCC will provide more details in the coming months regarding onboarding requirements (including wallet registration) and approval processes for L1 and L2 networks.