DTC's 2026 Tokenization Plan: Bringing On-Chain Settlement to US Capital Markets?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a no-action letter on December 11, 2025, authorizing the Depository Trust Company (DTC) to develop a tokenization framework for select assets within its custody system. DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). According to the DTCC, the platform is expected to go live in the second half of 2026, potentially marking one of the most significant institutional blockchain integrations in traditional finance. Notably, a DTCC patent also designates XRP and Stellar (XLM) as “digital liquidity tokens” intended to facilitate global asset tokenization and enable seamless cross-ledger settlement within the proposed framework. The plan aims to bring portions of equities, ETFs, and fixed income securities onto blockchain-based settlement, allowing for the management of ownership records and transaction finality via distributed ledger technology.

If fully implemented, this would streamline post-trade processes, reduce settlement times, and increase transparency across financial markets. For decades, DTC has been a cornerstone of U.S. securities settlement, processing trillions of dollars in transactions daily. Now, DTCC is introducing tokenization into this trusted infrastructure, combining the efficiency and programmability of blockchain with the reliability of traditional markets. Executives say the industry is at an inflection point, as global pilot programs have already demonstrated the advantages of distributed ledgers, but mass adoption has been limited by regulatory and institutional hurdles. Notably, Japan’s SBI recently issued a 10 billion yen on-chain bond with XRP rewards, highlighting blockchain’s growing real-world impact.

With the SEC’s no-action guidance in place, DTCC believes the market is ready to move from experimentation to full-scale production. The organization argues that the next phase of tokenized finance will depend on trusted institutions capable of providing security, resilience, and regulatory compliance, and its decades-old market infrastructure offers a distinct advantage in this regard. Beyond faster settlement, the framework could unlock new efficiencies across global capital markets. Tokenized securities have the potential to power programmable financial services, enable real-time collateral transfers, and significantly improve capital efficiency for institutional participants. DTCC states that its strategy is centered on securely tokenizing real-world assets (RWA) while maintaining the stability and safeguards expected of core market infrastructure. By combining the reliability of traditional clearing systems with blockchain innovation, the plan aims to reduce operational costs, increase transparency, and pave the way for the next generation of financial services.