Financial Giant Handling Quadrillions Moves Core Infrastructure to Blockchain
DTCC announced a pilot phase in July and an official launch in October for its platform for tokenized securities.
Summary
- DTCC launches a pilot blockchain platform in July.
- Official launch is scheduled for October.
- Over 50 companies are involved in development.
- The tokenized asset market reaches $19.3 billion.
- The settlement system itself is moving to blockchain.
Until May 4, all tokenization efforts shared one common trait: they operated in parallel with the existing settlement system without replacing it. BlackRock’s BUIDL fund tokenized assets, JPMorgan’s Kinexys processed about $2 billion daily in blockchain payments, and Nasdaq began trading tokenized stocks as early as March 18, but all these solutions remained outside the infrastructure that actually finalizes trades.
DTCC is not a parallel system – it is the very foundation of the market, through which the settlement of nearly all securities in the United States passes. In 2025 alone, its subsidiaries processed transactions worth $4.7 quadrillion, while its depository arm holds assets worth $114 trillion from over 150 countries and territories, and its global registry processes more than 25 billion operations annually related to trades and positions.
When the new platform launches in October, tokenized securities will be able to settle through the same system that currently processes every stock and bond in the U.S. This changes the settlement layer itself, rather than simply adding a new product.
In this context, the question is no longer whether institutional capital will move to blockchain, but how markets will change when the infrastructure itself begins operating on it.
Over 50 companies behind the platform
The platform is being developed within the Depository Trust Company and allows institutions to create digital versions of assets already under custody, while preserving the same ownership rights and protections, without requiring the assets to leave the existing system.
This means tokenization does not require transferring assets, but rather adding a new layer on top of the existing infrastructure, which significantly eases adoption for large institutions.
More than 50 companies are involved in the development, including BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan, as well as crypto firms like Anchorage and Circle. This shows that traditional finance and the blockchain sector are now working on shared infrastructure rather than separate ecosystems.
READ MORE: FINRA Clears Securitize to Underwrite and Custody Tokenized IPOs
Their participation is not merely symbolic. Circle already manages the largest tokenized instrument based on government bonds, while Anchorage is the first federally chartered digital asset bank, meaning the platform will have real usage from the outset.
DTCC CEO Frank La Salla stated that tokenization will change how markets function, adding liquidity, transparency, and efficiency – this statement comes not as a vision, but as a concrete plan with a fixed launch timeline.
The market already exists
The platform launches at a time when the tokenized real-world asset market has already reached scale, tripling between 2025 and Q1 2026 to $19.3 billion, according to a CoinGecko report.
Tokenized U.S. Treasury bonds alone account for $15.2 billion of that value, with an average yield of 3.36% according to RWA.xyz, making them a key benchmark for the blockchain economy.
At this level of yield, they begin to function as a risk-free rate, meaning assets that previously required exiting the blockchain environment can now be accessed directly within it.
The largest products confirm this trend: Circle’s USYC reaches $2.92 billion, BlackRock’s BUIDL $2.5 billion, Franklin Templeton’s BENJI $1 billion, and Ondo Finance’s USDY is around $1 billion and has risen 13% amid growing interest in tokenized assets.
Ethereum maintains its leading position, holding 65% of all tokenized assets and remaining the primary network for institutional tokenization.
Exchanges are racing toward 24/7 markets
DTCC’s plan is not developing in isolation. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has already submitted a proposal for regulatory changes to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to integrate tokenized securities directly into its main trading system.
The proposal envisions tokenized stocks and ETFs trading alongside traditional ones using the same tickers and identifiers, eliminating liquidity fragmentation between the two asset types and enabling a more efficient market.
At the same time, traditional trades will continue to settle under the standard T+1 cycle, while tokenized ones will execute almost instantly via blockchain. The proposal also includes a platform for continuous trading, stablecoin-based financing, and fractional investing.
Nasdaq has already taken the first step by launching trading of approved tokenized shares on March 18, showing that the three key players – NYSE, Nasdaq, and DTCC – are moving in the same direction under the pressure of the same market dynamics.
What this stage means
The main risk remains execution. While the July pilot and October launch are announced timelines, they do not guarantee smooth implementation.
Participating companies must integrate their systems, train their teams, and adapt to a regulatory environment that is still evolving – especially amid legislative efforts like the CLARITY Act, which has not yet been passed.
This creates uncertainty, particularly regarding the infrastructure for stablecoin-based settlement, which future models like NYSE’s rely on.
The difference this time is the level of specificity: clear dates, measurable volumes, and concrete participants, making the process harder to delay.
Confirmation will come if the July pilot proceeds as planned with active institutional participation, while delays or regulatory constraints could call into question the pace of transformation.
The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and should not be interpreted as financial, investment, or trading advice. Coinspress.com does not promote or advocate for any particular investment strategy, asset, or cryptocurrency project. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile and unpredictable – always perform your own research and seek guidance from a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
