DTCC Secures SEC Approval for 3-Year Asset Tokenization Pilot

Sec backs dtcc tokenization pilot

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a no-action letter to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) for a three-year tokenization pilot. The letter gives DTCC permission to custody and record tokenized stocks, bonds, and US Treasuries on approved blockchains under existing securities rules. DTCC sits at the centre of US post-trade infrastructure and processes settlement for most US equity trades each day. The pilot keeps DTCC as central record-keeper while it tests blockchain-based records for traditional securities.

Scope, assets and timing details

The approved service covers tokenized equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), corporate bonds, and US Treasury securities from large US indexes such as the Russell 1000. The program runs for three years and is scheduled to start in the second half of 2026, with operations restricted to pre-approved blockchain networks. DTCC continues to settle cash and securities on its existing ledgers while mirrored token positions sit on distributed ledger technology (DLT) systems. The design keeps one legal share per security while a synchronized on-chain representation tracks that share on the blockchain layer.

Planned market and risk impacts

DTCC and US Treasury research describe shorter settlement cycles as a way to reduce counterparty and operational risk in equity and bond markets. Today most US equity trades settle on trade date plus two business days (T+2), while tokenized models target near real-time settlement for eligible trades. DTCC pilots with tokenized US Treasuries record "atomic settlement", where cash and securities move in a single synchronized operation across networks. Speculation: large broker-dealers route high-volume collateral and securities lending flows through the pilot once DTCC proves stable atomic settlement at scale.

US regulators gave the green light for a new service that will take a critical step toward moving some stocks, bonds and Treasuries onto blockchain technology.— Bloomberg Law, Securities Law report on SEC no-action relief

Technology model and industry context

DTCC defines asset tokenization as the process where institutions issue digital tokens that represent ownership of traditional securities on DLT platforms. The pilot uses permissioned blockchain networks where approved participants run nodes and record transfers of the tokenized positions. Other DTCC experiments, such as Project Ion and joint pilots with the Digital Dollar Project, already test atomic settlement between tokenized securities and simulated central bank money. These projects give DTCC operational experience before the SEC-backed pilot moves into live production markets.