Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a leading Wall Street operator, has announced plans to initiate limited production trades of tokenized securities in July, with a full-scale launch of its platform scheduled for October. The new service, developed within DTCC's Depository Trust Company, will enable firms to create digital versions of assets currently held in custody, maintaining the same ownership rights and protections.
This platform has been shaped with input from over 50 firms, including prominent institutions such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan, as well as crypto-native companies like Anchorage and Circle. As a core piece of market infrastructure, DTCC's move into blockchain-based settlement marks a significant development, with the potential to reduce settlement times, cut costs, and increase market accessibility.
The company's effort is part of a broader trend among traditional financial institutions to explore tokenization, which involves representing assets like stocks or bonds on a blockchain. According to Frank La Salla, DTCC President and CEO, 'We believe tokenization will significantly change how markets work and operate, bringing new levels of liquidity, transparency, and efficiency to investors.' This initiative is part of a larger push by Wall Street operators towards tokenization, with other major players like Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange also working on similar projects. DTCC's move is a culmination of years of testing distributed ledger systems and participating in projects like the Canton Network.
In December, the company received a no-action letter from the SEC, allowing it to offer tokenization services for a defined set of assets.