Morgan Stanley confirmed its participation in DTCC's tokenization service, joining JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, Fidelity, and Citsecurities in moving U.S. stocks, exchange-traded funds, and Treasuries onto distributed ledger infrastructure.
The DTCC service, known as Project Guardian, streamlines post-trade processes and reduces settlement times through atomic settlement—a blockchain feature where asset transfer and payment occur simultaneously, eliminating counterparty risk. The $1.7 quadrillion global securities market is the target. The DTCC processes trillions in daily transactions, giving its blockchain integration institutional weight.
Tokenization validates blockchain's core utility beyond cryptocurrencies. While these tokenized assets do not trade on public blockchains, they leverage the same distributed ledger principles, signaling deeper integration of digital asset frameworks into the global financial system. The shift could unlock trillions in siloed liquidity and improve capital efficiency across markets.
This infrastructure buildout mirrors institutional appetite seen with the nine spot Bitcoin ETFs approved in January. Major banks are modernizing market plumbing—a long-term strategic pivot that could eventually support tokenized private equity funds and real estate portfolios, driving capital into digital asset ecosystems.
DTCC plans to expand the tokenization service to additional asset classes and participants throughout 2025, with future interoperability efforts connecting its blockchain network to other distributed ledger platforms. These developments will provide concrete metrics on tokenized traditional assets moving on-chain.
