DTC’s Tokenization Service to connect with Stellar Public Blockchain as DTC advances its Multi-Chain Strategy
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, and the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) today announced plans to enable the tokenization of The Depository Trust Company (DTC) custodied assets on the Stellar network, a configurable and public blockchain used across securities, payment, and remittance applications.
The connection with Stellar advances DTCC’s standards-driven, multi-chain strategy following receipt of a No-Action Letter from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in December 2025 authorizing DTC to implement and operate a new service to tokenize real-world, DTC-custodied assets, which will enable market participants to leverage traditional assets in a digital ecosystem with opportunities for faster settlement, greater asset mobility, extended trading hours, and lower cost and risk. DTC-tokenized assets will have the same investor protections, entitlements and safeguards as traditionally held securities.
Stellar Connectivity
DTCC and SDF expect DTC-tokenized assets to be available on the Stellar network in the first half of 2027. This integration will support rapid conversion of traditional assets into tokenized form and the full asset lifecycle, including relevant corporate actions and reporting.
“This collaboration represents another step forward in DTCC’s efforts to build an open, interoperable digital infrastructure that bridges traditional and digital markets,” said Frank La Salla, President and Chief Executive Officer of DTCC. “We are committed to expanding opportunities for market participants to utilize tokenized assets to access deeper liquidity, achieve greater efficiency and increase transparency on a public blockchain, while retaining the same investor protections and safeguards participants are used to today for traditionally held assets at DTC. Tokenization can enable new levels of transaction and capital efficiency, observability and collateral mobility as well as support extended trading hours.”
“DTCC is the backbone of global capital markets, and integrating their tokenization service with Stellar connects public blockchain networks to regulated market infrastructure,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation. “Stellar’s proven compliance-minded architecture, open infrastructure and risk management capabilities are aligned with market demands and expectations. Our network was built for this moment – we have always believed that blockchain’s utility for finance is to be the rail that institutional-grade markets can depend on.”
In the interim, DTCC and SDF will collaborate to evaluate tokenization use cases for eligible asset classes, including opportunities to tokenize highly liquid assets such as constituents of the Russell 1000, ETFs tracking major indices, and U.S. Treasury bills, bonds, and notes, consistent with DTC’s regulatory obligations.
“DTCC is focused on unlocking opportunities to drive tokenization safely, fairly and at scale to help market participants improve capital efficiency, liquidity and resilience across global markets within a trusted, regulated framework,” said Brian Steele, DTCC Managing Director, President of Clearing & Securities Services. “We are leveraging our 50+ years of expertise in clearing and settlement to galvanize the industry and foster collaboration across a wide cross-section of market players to enable tokenization of real-world assets.”
“We’re developing and expanding the Web3 ecosystem by creating a truly interoperable tokenization service to connect traditional market liquidity with digital rails,” said Nadine Chakar, DTCC Managing Director, Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets. “Stellar’s proven track record with institutional assets onchain is an important factor in our evaluation of blockchain networks. Its emphasis on compliance, transaction throughput and low-cost operations meets our rigorous standards and will help ensure we’re ready for growth as usage of blockchain networks for real-world assets transactions increases. We are excited to integrate multiple L1 and L2 networks to ensure interoperability and open access for users of the DTC tokenization service.”
