DTCC's Tokenization Service Goes Live on Canton, Starting With Treasuries

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's tokenization service has gone live on Canton, putting tokenized U.S. Treasuries inside the infrastructure that settles most of the country's securities. It is the clearest sign yet that tokenization is moving from pilot to plumbing.

What Launched

The DTC Tokenization Service entered commercial operation in October 2026, according to CryptoTicker's report on Oct. 4. U.S. Treasury securities held in DTC custody come first, with plans to expand to a broad range of DTC-eligible assets, including equities and other instruments. The service runs on the Canton Network and LFDT Besu, and CryptoTicker reports that Stellar is expected to follow in early 2027.

The plan was announced in December 2025, when DTCC said it would mint a subset of U.S. Treasury securities held at its subsidiary, the Depository Trust Company, on Canton, a permissioned blockchain operated by Digital Asset. At the time, DTCC targeted a minimum viable product for the first half of 2026, per Cointelegraph. The October commercial launch comes after test transactions: CryptoTicker reports more than 30 firms took part in July tests, and the working group includes over 50 firms such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and the NYSE.

The Regulatory Cover

The service operates under a rare SEC no-action letter issued in December 2025. It allows DTCC to tokenize on pre-approved blockchains for three years without enforcement action, provided it operates as described. Reports give slightly different dates for the letter within December 2025, so we cite the month only.

Scale, and What It Doesn't Mean

DTCC settled securities valued at $3.7 quadrillion in 2024 and holds about $99 trillion in custody, CryptoTicker reports. That is the context for why the launch matters: this is core market infrastructure, not a startup. It is also important to read the launch accurately. The service processes only a portion of the securities volume DTCC handles, and it starts with Treasuries. Canton is permissioned, so this is tokenization for institutions, not a public DeFi market.

The closest comparison is the tokenized Treasury market we cover in our RWA report, where products are issued by asset managers on public and private chains. DTCC's approach differs: the tokenization happens at the depository that already holds the securities. How these tokens interact with stablecoin payments is one of the open questions behind the GENIUS Act rulemaking.

One caveat on sourcing: the commercial-launch details come primarily from CryptoTicker's report, which we corroborated against earlier DTCC plans reported by Cointelegraph and others, rather than a DTCC press release we could retrieve.

Why It Matters

• Tokenization is reaching core infrastructure. The operator of U.S. securities depository services is now running a tokenization product.
• Treasuries are the starting point. They are the most liquid, lowest-risk asset class, with equities planned next.
• Permissioned, not open. Canton and Besu are institutional networks, which shapes who benefits first.
• Regulatory clock. The no-action letter runs three years, so rule-making and any extension will matter.