DTCC to Pilot Tokenized Securities in July, Launch in October

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation will begin a pilot in July to trade tokenized securities and aims for a full service launch in October. More than 50 traditional finance and decentralized finance firms are participating in the program, including BlackRock, Circle and Anchorage Digital.

An Industry Working Group supporting the initiative includes Alpaca, Anchorage Digital, BitGo Bank & Trust, BlackRock, Circle and Fireblocks, alongside major U.S. banks and trading platforms such as the New York Stock Exchange Group, Intercontinental Exchange and Payward, the parent company of Kraken. The pilot will test limited production trades to validate processes, technology and connectivity ahead of the broader rollout.

During the pilot, DTCC will operate constrained production trading to check operational workflows and systems links with participating firms. If the program moves to full service, DTCC plans to tokenize a defined set of highly liquid instruments: exchange-traded funds that track major indexes, constituents of the Russell 1000 and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds and notes.

In December, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission authorized DTCC to provide tokenization services on pre-approved blockchains for a three-year period. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce characterized the approval as an incremental move toward on-chain markets while noting the pilot will operate under specific operational limits.

DTCC, which currently custodies about $114 trillion in liquid assets across stocks and ETFs, says the tokenization service will preserve the same entitlements, investor protections and ownership rights as traditional holdings and will operate within existing legal and custody frameworks.

TD Securities’ Reid Noch has described the evolving market structure as closer to a “2.0” shift, where custody and settlement stay with DTCC while trading continues to meet National Best Bid and Offer requirements.

The market for tokenized real-world assets has grown. Data from analytics firm RWA.xyz show tokenized real-world assets rose about 66% in 2026, and tokenized stocks expanded from roughly $375.4 million on May 3, 2025, to about $1.21 billion on May 3, 2026. Kraken’s xStocks platform has reported more than $25 billion in cumulative trading volume since its launch. Separately, the New York Stock Exchange Group and Intercontinental Exchange have announced plans to develop a platform for trading tokenized stocks and ETFs, subject to regulatory approvals.

Banks, asset managers and crypto-native firms will monitor the pilot for how it handles custody, settlement finality and regulatory compliance. The SEC authorization establishes a limited sandbox environment, and participants will use July’s test period to assess readiness ahead of the planned October expansion.