Key facts
- The tokenized real-world asset market is currently valued at approximately $25 billion.
- U.S. Treasury bonds constitute over $15 billion of this tokenized market.
- The DTCC will pilot tokenized securities trading in July 2026, with a full launch in October 2026.
- Major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and BlackRock are involved in the DTCC's tokenization initiative.
- Crypto-native firms such as Anchorage Digital, Circle, and Kraken's parent company are also participating.
- Centralized crypto exchange trading volumes have fallen to their lowest point since late 2024.
The market for tokenized real-world assets has reached approximately $25 billion, with U.S. Treasury bonds accounting for over $15 billion of this value. This burgeoning sector is seeing significant integration with traditional finance, as evidenced by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's (DTCC) announcement of a concrete timeline for tokenized securities.
The DTCC, which processes virtually every securities trade in the United States, will begin live, limited trades of tokenized securities in July 2026, with a full commercial launch scheduled for October 2026. This initiative involves creating digital representations of existing assets, such as Treasury bills, notes, Russell 1000 stocks, and major index ETFs, on a blockchain, while the underlying assets remain in DTCC's custody with existing legal protections.
The SEC provided regulatory approval for this service in December 2025, authorizing it for a defined asset set over a three-year period. More than 50 firms, including major Wall Street players like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, and Wells Fargo, have collaborated on the service through DTCC's Industry Working Group. They are working alongside crypto-native firms such as Anchorage Digital, Circle, Ondo Finance, Fireblocks, and Kraken's parent company, Payward.
This collaboration signals a deliberate effort to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the digital asset space, which have historically operated with mutual suspicion. Nasdaq is also developing a framework for blockchain-based share issuance in partnership with Kraken, and Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has backed tokenized stock plans through a deal with OKX. These collective efforts suggest a potential structural shift in how securities are managed and traded.
Meanwhile, trading volumes on centralized crypto exchanges have seen a significant decline, dropping more than 11% to $4.61 trillion, marking their lowest point since late 2024. This contrasts with the growing institutional interest in tokenized traditional assets.