SEC Greenlights DTCC To Offer Tokenised Stocks in Major Move for Onchain

The US regulator has issued a no action letter to the DTCC which enable the infrastructure provider to take a step towards offering tokenised versions of US stocks, as well as ultimately bonds and Treasuries.

The landmark decision comes at the end of a banner year for blockchain technology and it opens the door for one of the largest Wall Street infrastructure providers to bring real scale to the tokenisation of financial assets.

The SEC’s letter allows the DTCC to custody and recognise tokenised equities that are onchain. As part of the pilot, the DTCC has three years to offer tokenised services on a certain number of blockchains. The service is expected to be rolled out in the second half of 2026.

Separately, earlier this year Nasdaq said it would support the trading of tokenised stocks in a plan that triggered a backlash from a number of industry associations. The SEC’s latest call will allow the DTCC to offer a tokenisation service to DTC participants and their clients and to custody these onchain assets.

The digital versions of the assets will have the same entitlements, investor protections and ownership rights as the asset in its traditional form. Stocks that are included in the pilot are highly liquid assets, including the Russell 1000, as well as ETFs tracking major indices and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and notes.  

Frank La Salla, President & CEO, DTCC says that tokenising the US securities market has the potential to yield transformational benefits such as collateral mobility, new trading modalities, 24/7 access and programmable assets.