Paul Atkins

Frank

Russell

Canton

Update (Dec. 18, 4:58 am UTC): This article has been updated to add comments from Michael Winnike.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation said it is set to bring tokenized US Treasurys onchain, and plans to expand to a “broad spectrum” of assets in the future.
The DTCC said on Wednesday that it plans to “enable a subset of US Treasury securities” custodied at its subsidiary, the Depository Trust Company, to be minted on the Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain created by the fintech company Digital Asset.
“This collaboration creates a roadmap to bring real-world, high-value tokenization use cases to market, starting with US Treasury securities and eventually expanding to a broad spectrum of DTC-eligible assets across network providers,” said DTCC CEO Frank LaSalla.
The DTCC runs crucial market infrastructure for clearing, settlement and trading of US securities and reported that its subsidiaries processed $3.7 quadrillion in securities transactions last year.
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 <img alt="Wall Street’s $4 quadrillion backbone to roll out tokenized US Treasurys" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2025-12/019b2ad9-e522-7ca7-9670-5fb656c28e9a.png" title="">
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 Frank LaSalla speaking with CNBC’s “Crypto World” on Friday after receiving the SEC’s no-action letter. Source: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djykrJKxsMA" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube</a>
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The company received a rare “no-action” letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday that <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-clears-dtcc-to-offer-tokenization-service" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">greenlit a securities</a> <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/asset-tokenization" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">tokenization</a> service “on pre-approved blockchains for three years,” and confirmed that the agency won’t take enforcement action against DTCC if its product operates as described.
<h2 id="more-securities-to-be-tokenized">More securities to be tokenized</h2>
The trio is working to launch a minimum viable product in a controlled environment by the first half of 2026, and the DTCC stated that it will “increase the size and scope of the project in the months that follow based upon client interest.”
It added that the whole partnership roadmap between the three companies would “unfold over multiple years,” but for now it aims to provide access to “digitized financial instruments in a secure and regulated environment.”
DTCC’s managing director of clearing and securities services, Michael Winnike, told Cointelegraph that the SEC’s letter allows it to tokenize “a defined set of highly liquid assets,” including the Russell 1000 and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking major indexes, as well as US Treasurys.
“Following the tokenization of US Treasurys on the Canton network, DTC anticipates that such ETFs and equities will come shortly thereafter,” he added.
Winnike said that client demand drove it to tokenize US Treasurys and would be “a stepping stone for our clients for integrating their existing infrastructure and processes with new onchain capabilities.”
The company added that it would also join the Canton Network’s governance and would take up the position of co-chair alongside Euroclear on the blockchain’s backing organization, the Canton Foundation.
Winnike said DTCC would “help set industry-wide standards for decentralized financial infrastructure” and work on interoperability standards for Canton and other blockchain networks.
<h2 id="markets-are-moving-onchain-but-analyst-expects-a-slow-burn">Markets are moving onchain, but analyst expects a slow burn</h2>
SEC chair Paul Atkins <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-innovation-exemption-dtcc-tokenization-onchain-markets" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said on Friday</a> after his agency gave DTCC a no-action letter that the company’s initiative “marks an important step towards onchain capital markets.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinshares-2026-outlook-tokenized-rwas-us-treasuries" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">US Treasurys lead tokenization wave as CoinShares predicts 2026 growth</a>
“US financial markets are poised to move onchain,” he said, adding the SEC “is prioritizing innovation and embracing new technologies to enable this onchain future.”
The same day, NYDIG global head of research Greg Cipolaro said that the tokenization of securities <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/tokenization-benefits-light-at-first-but-will-increase-if-democratized-nydig" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">won’t immediately be a major boon</a> to the crypto market, but that could change if tokenized assets are allowed to better integrate on blockchains.
Cipolaro said that traditional finance structures are still required on tokenized assets; their designs can “differ greatly,” and most are hosted on private blockchains like Canton, meaning not all can work with the wider decentralized financial system.
“In the future, one could see these RWAs being part of DeFi (composability), either as collateral for borrowing, an asset to be lent out, or for trading,” he added. “This will take time as technology develops, infrastructure is built out, and rules and regulations evolve.”
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/tokenized-stocks-take-over-world-robinhood-kraken-pros-cons-crypto/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Will Robinhood’s tokenized stocks REALLY take over the world? Pros and cons</a>

Wall Street’s $4 quadrillion backbone to roll out tokenized US Treasurys

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