Summary
- DTCC is conducting a pilot program for tokenized stocks and U.S. Treasuries involving around 40 financial institutions.
- Participants include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard, and the New York Stock Exchange.
- The initiative will evaluate tokenized assets within the current post-trade framework.
On Wednesday, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which is responsible for processing securities transactions in the U.S., initiated a pilot program aimed at testing tokenized stocks and U.S. Treasuries in collaboration with nearly 40 financial firms.
This initiative, initially reported by The Wall Street Journal, features major players like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard, and the New York Stock Exchange.
“Today marks the start of an extensive journey to show that traditional and innovative methods can coexist, and that technology opens up numerous opportunities for participants globally,” stated Nadine Chakar, global head of DTCC Digital Assets, in a statement. “We aim to validate the benefits of tokenization and establish a foundation that could lead to a scalable launch by October.”
Created in 1999 through the merger of the Depository Trust Company and the National Securities Clearing Corporation, DTCC has established itself as a crucial component of the U.S. securities market, processing approximately $4.7 quadrillion in transactions in 2025.
The pilot project will assess blockchain-based representations of stocks, ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries managed at DTCC across various aspects such as collateral management, repo transactions, margin, and asset transfers. DTCC indicated that this exercise aims to illustrate how tokenized assets can function within the current market framework prior to a wider rollout planned for later this year.
Tokenization involves creating blockchain-based representations of physical assets, which can include stocks, bonds, U.S. Treasuries, commodities, and real estate.
Despite the ability to trade tokenized digital assets on cryptocurrency platforms, these do not automatically grant legal ownership of the underlying asset.
Interest in tokenizing real-world assets has surged over the past year as traditional financial institutions broaden their blockchain projects.
In May 2025, protocols for real-world assets exceeded $10 billion in total value locked, with the adoption of tokenized assets continuing to grow. Earlier this month, Robinhood, a stock and cryptocurrency trading platform, introduced Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 network aimed at tokenized stocks, ETFs, and other real-world assets.