DTCC Targets October Launch for Tokenization Service

DTCC announced Monday (May 4) that it plans to facilitate limited production trades of real-world assets tokenized using its tokenization service in July before a wider launch in October.

“Our vision is coming to fruition: launching our tokenization service and successfully bridging TradFi and DeFi,” Frank La Salla, DTCC president and CEO, said in a news release.

“We believe tokenization will significantly change how markets work and operate, bringing new levels of liquidity, transparency and efficiency to investors.”

According to the release, the service is being designed with help and input from more than 50 firms from the traditional and digital finance spaces, including Anchorage Digital, Bank of America, Charles Schwab, Circle, Citi, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Kraken parent company Payward, and Wells Fargo.

The service will allow for the tokenization of real-world, Depository Trust Company (DTC)-custodied assets that offer the same “entitlements, investor protections and ownership rights” as traditional assets, “supported by DTC’s resilience and accountability,” the release added.

DTC custodies assets valued at over $114 trillion, and has received Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authorization to offer a defined tokenization service for DTC Participants and their clients for three years.

“Tokenization is an important and critical step toward building tomorrow’s digital infrastructure,” said Nadine Chakar, DTCC Managing Director, Global Head of Digital Assets. “DTCC is committed to remaining at the forefront of innovation and championing a scalable, interoperable and risk-managed Web3 ecosystem that harnesses the power of digital ledger technology and delivers real value to the industry.”

In other tokenization news, PYMNTS wrote recently about the implications of HSBC bringing its Tokenized Deposit Service (TDS) to the U.S., extending a platform that had already been tested out in other markets.

Tokenized deposits are formed when a financial institution converts a customer’s traditional deposit into a digital token on a blockchain or distributed ledger. Each token represents a claim on the underlying deposit, upholding its status as bank money.

“That expansion matters,” the report said. “Tokenized deposits can help enable what treasury teams have long pursued but rarely achieved: true real-time cash management. The move underscores a broader institutional push: major banks are no longer experimenting at the edges of distributed ledger technology; they are embedding it into core treasury services.”