Key facts
- Morgan Stanley said it is among the first banks to tokenize US equities and Treasuries through the DTCC Tokenization Service.
- The service converts DTC-held securities into tokenized digital twins and back, delivering them to digital wallets of the firm's choice.
- Tokens keep the same ownership rights, investor protections and economic entitlements as the originals, according to DTCC.
- Twenty DTC participants have signed up, including Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Citadel Securities and UBS.
- The service runs on the Canton Network and DTCC's private Besu network, with more blockchains planned for 2027.
- Fifty-six companies including Tesla, SpaceX, Amazon and Nvidia objected to their shares trading on OKXICE TSV, a planned venue from OKX and Intercontinental Exchange.
Morgan Stanley said on November 4 that it is among the first banks to tokenize US equities and Treasuries through the DTCC Tokenization Service, which went live on October 28. The service is run by the Depository Trust Co., a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and the post-trade backbone of US markets, with more than $114 trillion in assets under custody.
The service lets eligible firms convert securities held at DTC into tokenized digital twins and back again, delivering them to digital wallets of their choice. The tokens keep the same ownership rights, investor protections and economic entitlements as the originals, according to DTCC, and are designed to let firms move collateral and tap new pools of liquidity within minutes. It currently runs on the Canton Network and DTCC's private Besu network, with more blockchains planned for 2027.
Morgan Stanley is one of 20 DTC participants that have signed up so far, alongside Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Citadel Securities and UBS, among others. DTCC said it developed the service with input from more than 150 firms.
Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley's head of digital assets strategy, said: "The hands-on experience of integrating tokenized securities with established market infrastructure will inform the continued development of the firm's digital asset capabilities as the market evolves."
The launch follows a regulatory path that began in December 2025, when the SEC gave DTC a no-action letter allowing it to tokenize Russell 1000 stocks, major index ETFs and US Treasuries. DTCC has also worked with Chainlink on tokenized collateral management.
The bank-led approach contrasts with crypto-native efforts to tokenize stocks. Fifty-six companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Amazon and Nvidia, have objected to having their shares traded on OKXICE TSV, a planned tokenized stock venue from OKX and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange. Under the SEC's innovation exemption, those objections bar the venue from listing third-party tokenized versions of their stock.
The International Monetary Fund found last month that tokenized stocks trade mostly outside US market hours, though they remain more volatile and less liquid than their traditional counterparts.