DTCC to run first live tokenized asset trades in July, eyes October rollout

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which processes virtually every securities transaction in the US and custodies more than $114 trillion in assets, announced today that it will begin facilitating live trades of tokenized assets in July, with a full commercial launch of the service planned for October.

The initiative brings together more than 50 financial firms from both traditional finance and digital assets. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Charles Schwab are participating alongside crypto-native firms like Kraken, Anchorage Digital, Ondo Finance, and Fireblocks.

The effort follows regulatory clearance from the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Last December, DTCC’s subsidiary Depository Trust Company received a No-Action Letter from the SEC allowing it to tokenize traditional custodial assets.

The service will run on approved blockchains for three years and provide digital assets with the same legal rights and protections as their traditional equivalents. Covered assets include the Russell 1000, major index ETFs, and US Treasury bills, bonds, and notes.

DTCC said the move supports an increased transition to digital markets, enabling innovations such as 24/7 trading, improved collateral efficiency, and programmable finance, while linking traditional and decentralized liquidity.

“As a global leader in financial services, DTCC continues to galvanize a broad cross-section of industry leaders to facilitate ongoing, robust dialogue that drives widespread digital assets adoption and advances innovation,” Frank La Salla, DTCC President and CEO, said in a statement.

“Our vision is coming to fruition: launching our tokenization service and successfully bridging TradFi and DeFi. We believe tokenization will significantly change how markets work and operate, bringing new levels of liquidity, transparency and efficiency to investors,” he stated.

As of May 4, 2026, the real-world asset (RWA) sector is valued at around $25 billion, per DefiLlama. DeFi’s participation in RWAs totals $1.97 billion in TVL, while perpetual futures open interest is around $2.4 billion. The ecosystem currently consists of 163 issuers.

In terms of composition, bonds lead by a wide margin at over $15 billion, followed by precious metals at $5.6 billion and private credit at $2.6 billion. Public equities contribute $838 million, with smaller but expanding allocations across digital assets and other categories.

The market has shown steady expansion since 2022, with growth accelerating rapidly through 2024 and 2025.