DTCC launches live trading of tokenized securities, with nearly 40 financial institutions participating

The U.S. securities settlement infrastructure DTCC began live production trading of tokenized stocks and government bonds on Wednesday, advancing its tokenization work from a testing environment to actual operation. According to The Wall Street Journal, nearly 40 financial institutions and technology providers are participating, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard, and the New York Stock Exchange.

DTCC's subsidiary DTC custodies over $114 trillion in securities. The first day of trading covers use cases such as collateral, repurchase agreements, stocks, margin, and asset transfers, with tokenized assets including Microsoft and Circle stocks, Invesco QQQ Trust, SPDR S&P 500 ETF, iShares Short-Term Treasury ETF, and government bonds of various maturities.

JPMorgan Chase will tokenize part of its QQQ holdings. DTCC stated that this is currently the initial limited production trading phase, with a full service plan set to launch in October, at which time institutions holding assets at the clearinghouse will be able to convert some securities into tokens. This service is built on DTCC's ComposerX platform, relying on the no-action letter granted to DTC by the SEC last December.