The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has taken a major step toward tokenizing traditional securities by completing a trial that converted stocks, ETFs, and Treasuries into digital tokens. The trial was conducted across two blockchains—Canton Network and DTCC's own private Hyperledger Besu network—and involved heavyweight financial institutions including Vanguard, BlackRock, and JPMorgan, according to a report confirmed by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
The test transactions covered assets like Microsoft (MSFT), Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), and iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV). DTCC processed these transactions both via traditional settlement rails and the new blockchain-based paths, allowing direct side-by-side comparison. The clearinghouse, whose depository subsidiary holds over $114 trillion in securities, described the multi-network approach as a strategy to maximize resiliency and scale.
Separately, a Wall Street Journal report revealed that DTCC has already begun production trades of tokenized stocks and U.S. Treasuries with JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs, moving beyond pilot testing into live settlement. This signals a deeper institutional commitment than sandbox experiments, though it does not yet represent broad market-wide availability.
DTCC’s tokenization roadmap accelerated after the SEC issued a no-action letter in December 2025, providing a three-year window to tokenize a defined set of liquid assets including Russell 1000 constituents, major index ETFs, and U.S. Treasury instruments. More than 50 firms have shaped the service through DTCC’s Industry Working Group, ranging from traditional giants like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to crypto-native players like Circle, Ondo Finance, and Anchorage Digital.
DTCC President and CEO Frank La Salla stated that tokenization will bring “new levels of liquidity, transparency and efficiency to investors.” The move places DTCC at the heart of the settlement-layer transformation, as its existing infrastructure already clears most U.S. equity activity—tokenizing there touches the assets themselves, not just a trading venue.
