Summary
- Paxos Securities Settlement Company has been officially registered as a clearing agency by the SEC.
- This registration enables Paxos to function as a central securities depository while adhering to ongoing regulatory standards.
- The approval comes after a seven-year period of regulatory discussions, which included a No-Action Letter in 2019 and a pilot program that started in February 2020.
Paxos Securities Settlement Company, a subsidiary of Paxos, a firm specializing in blockchain infrastructure, has received SEC registration to operate as a clearing agency in accordance with Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act.
This registration positions Paxos as the “only blockchain-native firm” recognized by the SEC to serve as a central securities depository in the U.S., as stated in a company press release.
Paxos Securities Settlement Company has been granted registration as a clearing agency by the SEC.
We are now the only blockchain-native firm registered to provide clearing and settlement infrastructure as a central securities depository in the United States.
With this…
— Paxos (@Paxos) May 28, 2026
The SEC's order indicates that this registration is temporary, allowing Paxos to deliver clearing and settlement services while complying with ongoing regulatory obligations. "Most importantly, it allows us to offer the most complete infrastructure for our partners to continue evolving with the market and blockchain technology," stated Charles Cascarilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos.
This achievement concludes a seven-year regulatory process, according to Cascarilla, which started with their No-Action Letter in 2019 and included a settlement pilot conducted with some of the world's leading financial institutions.
The pilot program, which launched in February 2020, has been consistently clearing and settling U.S. equities daily, with participation from “top global financial institutions” operating under SEC no-action relief. In 2022, a blockchain-based pilot in collaboration with State Street achieved same-day settlement for stock trading, referred to as “T+0.”
This registration arrives as established infrastructure providers are increasingly adopting tokenization, with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation recently announcing plans for its own tokenization service backed by major firms on Wall Street.
Paxos also issues various digital assets, including PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin and Pax Gold (PAXG). In October 2025, the firm experienced an “internal technical error” that led to the accidental minting and subsequent burning of 300 trillion PYUSD tokens. Later, the company received conditional approval to transition to an OCC national trust bank, allowing it to operate under a unified federal regulatory framework rather than a mix of state regulations.