The Depository Trust Company has put its tokenization service into production with 20 participant firms, giving major banks and custodians a regulated channel to create blockchain-based records of securities positions already held at DTC.
JPMorgan, Citigroup, State Street, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Barclays and UBS are among the firms that signed access agreements, DTC said on Oct. 28. The rollout places tokenized securities infrastructure inside the U.S. post-trade system, though access remains limited to DTC participants using registered institutional wallets.
The service does not place newly issued U.S. shares on a public blockchain. Instead, it creates a digital entitlement that mirrors an existing security position held at DTC on a one-for-one basis. The tokenized record retains the underlying security's CUSIP identifier and is designed to preserve its ownership claim, economic rights and associated protections.
That structure draws a clear boundary between DTC-recognized records and third-party products that merely track a stock's price. It also gives participant firms a way to use blockchain settlement mechanics without changing the issuer, the underlying share class or the custody framework supporting the security.
Peer-to-peer transfers can run continuously
Tokenized entitlements can be transferred peer-to-peer around the clock when both counterparties use registered wallets on the same supported network, according to DTC's service framework. The design combines transfer and settlement, allowing delivery to occur as the entitlement changes hands rather than through a later settlement cycle.
Conversions into and out of the tokenized format follow a different process. DTC said those conversions, along with movements between supported networks, will be handled through its conversion service on U.S. business days between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Eastern time. The targeted completion time is within 15 minutes.
The distinction limits how far the launch changes daily equity market plumbing. A participant may transfer an already-tokenized position to another eligible participant at any hour on the same network, but entering the tokenized environment, exiting it or moving between networks depends on DTC's business-day conversion window.
At launch, more than 30 securities could be converted, including selected Russell 1000 stocks, major index-tracking ETFs and U.S. Treasuries. DTC connected the service to two networks: Canton and a private network based on Hyperledger Besu technology. It plans to add further network connections in 2027.
DTC did not disclose the value of securities converted on the first day, the number of tokens minted or the number of transfers processed. Its frequently cited $30 trillion figure refers to the estimated market value of securities in the eligible universe, rather than assets tokenized at launch.
A controlled network, not an open stock market
The initial design confines circulation to wallets registered by DTC participant institutions. Retail users, public decentralized-finance protocols and open trading venues cannot access the tokenized entitlements through this framework.
That restriction reflects the service's role as an extension of established custody and settlement arrangements. A token represents an entitlement associated with a DTC-held position, rather than a freely circulating digital asset whose ownership can be transferred to any blockchain address.
DTC's legal footing also remains time-limited. The Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading and Markets issued a no-action letter on Dec. 11, 2025, stating that staff would not recommend enforcement action if DTC operated the service as described. The position covers three years and represents staff-level relief rather than a permanent rule or authorization.
DTC had already tested the system in limited production activity on July 15 with more than 30 institutions. Those transactions covered collateral management, securities lending, repurchase agreements and equity settlement. The October launch expands access through participant agreements but has not yet been accompanied by public transaction data.
Two notable institutions were absent from the announced first group. Bank of New York Mellon did not appear among the initial access agreements, while Goldman Sachs, which took part in the July pilot, was also not listed among the 20 launch participants.
Existing clearing efficiencies remain outside the token layer
The service's 24/7 transfer capability does not eliminate the clearing functions that support conventional U.S. securities markets. Netting at the National Securities Clearing Corporation can reduce the amount that must actually settle to roughly 2% of total trading value, according to the framework outlined around the launch.
That netting process allows market participants to offset purchase and sale obligations before settlement. Token transfers completed one by one without equivalent netting could operate alongside that system, particularly for collateral, financing and bilateral institutional transfers, rather than replacing it.
On-chain cash settlement is also absent from the initial release. DTC has placed both cross-network transfers and on-chain cash functionality on its 2027 roadmap. Until cash and securities can settle together across the full workflow, many transactions will continue to rely on existing payment, custody and clearing arrangements.
The service therefore changes the availability of certain institutional securities movements more than it changes the standard settlement cycle for U.S. cash equities. U.S. securities markets already moved to T+1 settlement in 2024; the new platform offers continuous transfers for eligible tokenized positions within a controlled participant network, not an immediate replacement for all market-wide clearing.
Corporate resistance adds a rights question
The launch arrived as several large public companies, including JPMorgan, AMD and Coca-Cola, were reported to be part of a group of 33 firms opposing unauthorized third-party tokenization of their shares.
The disagreement turns on whether a token that follows a stock's market price should be treated like an issuer-recognized representation of a security. DTC's model is built around the latter: the tokenized entitlement retains the original CUSIP and is tied to the rights attached to the DTC-held security position.
Canton's CC token traded near $0.10 around the announcement, according to market reports, leaving it roughly unchanged over 24 hours and down about 11% over seven days. The deployment did not make Canton the exclusive network for DTC's service, since the private Besu-based network launched alongside it and additional integrations are planned.
For now, the practical measure of the project will be whether participants use it for recurring collateral, lending, repo and settlement workflows and whether DTC can add cash settlement and cross-network functionality without sacrificing the controls that made the service acceptable to regulated institutions.
Explore how tokenized equities work in practice—read our in-depth guide on tokenized equities next.
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