The market infrastructure of Wall Street moved nearer to the concept of tokenization after the DTCC obtained SEC no-action relief. This action now allows tokenized securities to possess full legal safeguards and established custody benchmarks, thereby indicating regulatory endorsement and expediting acceptance among institutions across U.S. capital markets.
SEC Greenlights DTCC Tokenization Plans, Fueling Institutional Adoption
Increased momentum is being observed regarding the institutional incorporation of tokenized securities within the U.S. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), recognized as the foremost post-trade market infrastructure for the worldwide financial services sector, disclosed on December 11 that its subsidiary, DTC, had been granted a no-action letter (NAL) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This letter officially sanctions a novel tokenization offering for assets held in DTC custody.
In an historic milestone, DTC received a no‑action letter from the SEC to tokenize certain DTC‑custodied assets. By leveraging blockchain, DTCC aims to bridge TradFi and DeFi, advancing a more resilient, inclusive and efficient global financial system.
DTCC shared on social media platform X:
“The no-action letter permits DTC to provide a tokenization service for DTC clients and their participants on pre-approved distributed ledgers for three years,” the press release outlines. “Under the NAL, DTC will be empowered to tokenize real-world assets, with the resulting digital iteration possessing identical privileges, investor safeguards, and proprietary rights as the asset in its conventional configuration.” The communication further specifies: “Additionally, the same superior degree of durability, security, and stability as that of customary markets will be furnished by DTC.”
The authorization is largely considered substantial because it integrates tokenization within essential, systemically important market infrastructure instead of setting it up as an experimental adjunct. By explicitly safeguarding legal assurances, custodial benchmarks, and investor defenses, the structure resolves fundamental anxieties that have restricted institutional involvement in digital asset venues.
Tokenizing the U.S. securities market has the potential to yield transformational benefits such as collateral mobility, new trading modalities, 24/7 access and programmable assets, but this will only be achievable if market infrastructure provides a robust foundation to usher in this new digital era.
Frank La Salla, President and CEO of DTCC, opined:
The wider ramifications of the no-action letter stretch far past DTCC’s proprietary offerings. Permission to tokenize highly fluid assets, which include the Russell 1000, prominent index-following ETFs, and U.S. Treasury obligations, indicates increasing regulatory ease concerning blockchain-based representations of fundamental financial tools. DTCC Managing Director Brian Steele stated that the endeavor demonstrates how innovation can be scaled without endangering the fortitude that supports U.S. markets, while Nadine Chakar, managing director and head of digital assets at DTCC, commented that distributed ledger technology provides programmability and ease of movement while sustaining reliability.
With DTC preparing a managed deployment in the latter half of 2026, the action positions tokenization as a fundamental development of capital markets infrastructure. As regulatory certainty extends to systemically important institutions, the ruling may accelerate institutional uptake and reinforce the argument for tokenized assets to become a primary element of worldwide finance.
