Asset Tokenization: DTCC Launches a Pilot With 40 Institutions in October
The main US securities depository is preparing a pilot to tokenize equities and Treasuries with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard and NYSE taking part. We explain how this differs from tokenized stocks on crypto exchanges and why infrastructure matters more than hype.
In brief: The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the central infrastructure of the US securities market, is launching a pilot to tokenize equities and Treasury securities in October 2026. About 40 financial and technology companies are taking part, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard and the New York Stock Exchange. This is a fundamentally different class of event from the launch of "tokenized stocks" on a crypto exchange: what is being tokenized is not a synthetic derivative but the depository record itself.
What exactly DTCC is launching
| Parameter | Details |
|---|---|
| Pilot start | October 2026 |
| Participants | ~40 companies: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, Vanguard, NYSE and others |
| Equities to be tokenized | Microsoft, Circle Internet Group |
| ETFs to be tokenized | Invesco QQQ Trust, State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, iShares 0–3 Month Treasury Bond ETF |
| Debt instruments | US Treasury securities of various maturities |
| Infrastructure | DTCC's private blockchain based on Hyperledger Besu, and Canton Network |
| Scenarios tested | Collateral transfers, repo transactions, intra-exchange settlement |
| Rights attached to the token | Economic and legal rights are preserved, including dividends and voting rights |
| Reversibility | The token can be converted back into the traditional form of the security |
Source: reports on the launch of the DTCC pilot, September 2026.
DTCC CEO Frank La Salla, commenting on the project, named the priorities as the safety and resilience of the system and the unlocking of "trapped" liquidity through new technology. The wording is not accidental: the main economic point of the pilot is not round-the-clock trading as such, but faster settlement and collateral mobility.
Why this is not the same as tokenized stocks on a crypto exchange
The difference lies in what actually stands behind the token. This is the key point that popular explainers almost always blur.
The crypto exchange and fintech provider model. The provider buys the underlying share, places it in an account with a custodian and issues a token reflecting the economic interest. The token holder is not a shareholder: there are no voting rights, and the claim runs against the token issuer, not the company. If the issuer goes bankrupt, the fate of the underlying asset is decided in its bankruptcy proceedings.
The DTCC model. What is tokenized is the record in the central depository's system. Legal and economic rights are fully preserved, including dividends and voting, and the token is fungible with the traditional form and can be converted back. Nasdaq is taking the same route: it is the rights recorded at DTC that are tokenized, not the shares themselves as a separate entity. In March 2026, the SEC approved trading of tokenized stocks and ETFs on Nasdaq as part of the DTC Tokenized Securities pilot.
In other words, institutional tokenization is an evolution of settlement infrastructure, not a parallel market. For an investor there is one practical test: does the token retain shareholder rights, and on whose balance sheet is the underlying asset recorded.
The RWA market in numbers
Tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) has grown quickly but from a very low base: on-chain volume excluding stablecoins rose from roughly $6 billion at the start of 2025 to around $33 billion by July 2026. Estimates range from $26 billion to $36 billion depending on whether private credit and tokenized money market funds are included.
The largest instruments as of 14 September 2026 (CoinGecko data):
| Instrument | Type | Market cap |
|---|---|---|
| Figure HELOC (FIGR_HELOC) | Private credit secured by real estate | $22.6 billion |
| BlackRock BUIDL | Tokenized money market fund | $2.75 billion |
| Tether Gold (XAUT) | Tokenized gold | $2.68 billion |
| Circle USYC | Tokenized money market fund | $2.61 billion |
| Ondo USDY | Yield-bearing dollar instrument | $2.22 billion |
| PAX Gold (PAXG) | Tokenized gold | $1.86 billion |
| Tokenized gold, entire segment | 27 instruments | $5.27 billion |
A telling detail: BlackRock's BUIDL crossed the $2 billion mark in March 2026 and grew to $2.75 billion by mid-September. That is growth of about 37% in six months: fast, but not explosive, and it gives a sense of the real pace of institutional adoption rather than the one painted in presentations.
Even more important is the structure: the segment's largest position is neither equities nor real estate but private credit. In 2026, tokenization is primarily solving the problem of recording and circulating illiquid debt claims, not giving retail investors "a share of a skyscraper," as it is usually pitched.
What tokenization really changes for the market
Settlement speed. The standard cycle in the US market is T+1. A tokenized record allows settlement almost instantly and 24/7. The effect is greatest for cross-border transactions, where time zones and correspondent chains add days.
Freeing up collateral. This is exactly what DTCC is talking about. Funds frozen for the duration of the settlement cycle as margin and collateral are released with instant settlement. At market scale this is tens of billions of dollars of working capital.
Fractionalization. The real effect is more modest than expected: fractional shares exist at brokers without blockchain, and retail access to Treasuries already exists through ETFs.
Programmability. Coupon payments, automatic margin calls and conditional execution are implemented in a smart contract. For repo and collateral this is the main source of cost savings.
What tokenization does not change: market risk, issuer credit risk, KYC requirements and tax obligations. A tokenized bond remains a US Treasury obligation with all its parameters, and a tokenized stock carries the same risk of a falling price.
Risks that get less coverage than the benefits
- The legal nature of the token. In a model with an intermediary issuer, the token holder is a creditor of the issuer, not the owner of the security. This is critical in the event of the provider's bankruptcy.
- Secondary market liquidity. Tokenizing an illiquid asset does not make it liquid. Tokenized real estate and private credit still trade rarely and with wide spreads.
- Infrastructure concentration. The pilot runs on DTCC's private blockchain and Canton Network, which are not public networks. The settlement advantages remain, but open composability and third-party access do not.
- Regulatory fragmentation. SEC approval applies in the US. In other jurisdictions the status of a tokenized security is determined separately, and cross-border circulation runs into exactly this.
A separate track is Russia, where a similar function is performed by digital financial assets (DFAs), issued in information systems included in the Bank of Russia (the central bank) registers. This is a standalone legal construct not directly compatible with international tokenized instruments; we examine the country's overall regulatory framework for digital asset transactions in our piece on the new law and mining.
What's next
The nearest milestone is the start of the DTCC pilot in October 2026 and the assessment of results across three scenarios: collateral transfers, repo and intra-exchange settlement. Commercial launch of individual services is expected based on the pilot's results.
The participation of Vanguard and NYSE is significant not for the size of their investment but as a signal: Vanguard has historically been one of the most conservative market participants, and its presence means tokenization is being discussed as a matter of settlement technology, not as a bet on cryptocurrencies. The key risk to the timeline is not technology but reconciling legal and tax details among participants: that is precisely where most previous industry pilots got stuck.
A related story is stablecoins as the cash leg of tokenized transactions: without tokenized money, a tokenized security does not deliver instant settlement. More on that in our piece on the bank consortium and the BIS position.
Sources
- "DTCC launches pilot to tokenize equities and Treasury securities," September 2026 — https://www.gncrypto.news/ru/news/dtcc-zapuskaet-pilot-tokenizatsii-aktsiy-i-kaznacheyskikh-bumag/
- Cointelegraph (RU): DTCC launches asset tokenization pilot — https://cointelegraph-ru.com/news/dtcc-zapustil-tokenizaciyu-aktivov
- BeInCrypto RU: how tokenized stocks on Nasdaq will change the industry — https://ru.beincrypto.com/vojna-za-tokenizirovannye-akczii/
- Investing.com: who will benefit from the tokenization of financial markets — https://ru.investing.com/analysis/article-200330656
- Kapital.kz: assets are moving to blockchain — what tokenization will give investors — https://kapital.kz/finance/152603/aktivy-uhodyat-v-blokchejn-chto-tokenizaciya-dast-investoru.html
- Market capitalization of tokenized instruments: CoinGecko API, data as of 14 September 2026
