① On Wednesday local time, DTCC announced that it would bring tokenized U.S. Treasuries onto the blockchain and plans to expand into a broader range of asset classes in the future; ② DTCC CEO Frank LaSalla stated, 'This collaboration sets a roadmap for bringing real-world, high-value tokenization use cases to market, starting with U.S. Treasuries and eventually extending to a wide range of DTC-eligible assets across network providers.'
On Wednesday local time, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced that it would bring tokenized U.S. Treasury securities onto the blockchain and plans to expand to a broader range of asset classes in the future.
The organization announced on the same day that it plans to 'mint' a portion of U.S. Treasuries held in custody by its subsidiary, The Depository Trust Company (DTC), on the permissioned blockchain Canton Network, created by fintech company Digital Asset.
DTCC CEO Frank LaSalla stated, 'This collaboration sets a roadmap for bringing real-world, high-value tokenization use cases to market, starting with U.S. Treasuries and eventually extending to a wide range of DTC-eligible assets across network providers.'
As the key market infrastructure operator for clearing, settlement, and trading of U.S. securities, DTCC’s subsidiaries processed securities transactions worth up to $3700 trillion last year.
Last Thursday, the company received a rare 'no-action letter' issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approving its provision of security tokenization services on a pre-approved blockchain for three years, and confirming that regulators will not take enforcement action if the product operates as described.
More securities will achieve tokenization.
Currently, DTCC, Digital Asset, and Canton Network are working towards launching a viable product in a controlled environment by the first half of 2026. A DTCC statement indicated that it will 'expand the project's scale and scope in the coming months based on customer demand.'
The organization added that the roadmap for this three-party collaboration will 'progress gradually over several years,' with the current phase aiming to provide 'digitized financial instruments in a secure and compliant environment.'
DTCC stated last week that the SEC’s letter 'applies to specific portfolios of highly liquid assets,' including U.S. Treasury bills, medium- and long-term Treasury bonds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking major indices, and the Russell 1000 Index, which tracks the largest 1,000 listed companies in the United States.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that the company's move "marks an important step toward on-chain capital markets," following the agency's issuance of a 'no-action letter' to DTCC last week.
"The U.S. financial markets are poised to enter the on-chain space," he added, with the SEC "prioritizing innovation and embracing new technologies to realize this on-chain future."
Greg Cipolaro, Head of Global Research at NYDIG, noted that security tokenization will not immediately bring significant benefits to the crypto market, but the situation could change if tokenized assets are better integrated into blockchain systems.
Cipolaro pointed out that tokenized assets still rely on traditional financial infrastructure for support; their design exhibits "notable differences," and most are deployed on private blockchains like Canton, meaning not all assets can be compatible with broader decentralized finance ecosystems.
He added, "In the future, these real-world assets could be integrated into the DeFi ecosystem (and achieve composability), serving as collateral for loans, lendable assets, or instruments for trading. However, this will require technological advancements, infrastructure development, and the gradual refinement of rules and regulations."
Editor/Doris