Talos Joins DTCC Industry Working Group to Advance Tokenization of DTC-Custodied Assets

A pilot with broad market implications

This announcement is the product of a multi-year effort that reached a critical inflection point in December 2025, when the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets issued a no-action letter authorizing DTC to operate a three-year tokenization pilot. The relief permits DTC participants to elect to have their security entitlements recorded on distributed ledger technology in parallel with, rather than replacing, DTC's existing centralized ledger.

DTC custodies over $114 trillion in assets. The eligible asset scope is significant: Russell 1000 constituents, ETFs tracking major US equity indices, and US Treasury bills, bonds and notes. The service is designed so that tokenized entitlements will carry the same ownership rights, investor protections and legal finality as their traditional counterparts.

Same protections with blockchain efficiency

The DTCC's approach of preserving the legal and regulatory framework of existing securities while enabling blockchain-native mobility enables the protections of traditional market infrastructure and the efficiency gains of digital assets.

Tokenization at this scale addresses structural problems that have constrained institutional markets, such as immobilized assets and settlement friction. Collateral that moves atomically rather than on T+1 or T+2 cycles reduces the need to over-collateralize as a timing buffer. Securities that can be programmed and transferred across chains without losing their legal standing open new pathways for liquidity, operational efficiency and market access.

"The DTC's tokenization service addresses a tension that has held institutional adoption back: how to access the efficiencies of digital assets without stepping outside the regulatory frameworks institutions depend on," said Drew Forman, SVP and Head of Strategy at Talos. "Participation in the DTCC Industry Working Group reflects where we've been heading since day one. Talos has been building the infrastructure that lets institutions participate in digital markets without compromising on the institutional-grade rigor they require."

For similar reasons, Talos kicked off a collaboration with Nasdaq earlier this year to advance tokenized collateral management. Connecting Talos's digital asset infrastructure with Nasdaq's Calypso collateral management platform would allow institutions to manage on- and off-chain collateral workflows in a unified environment.

Building at the intersection of traditional and digital markets

While initiatives like DTCC's tokenization service bring traditional assets onto blockchain rails, Talos has been building on the other side of that bridge, by bringing tokenized versions of traditional assets into Talos’s institutional trading infrastructure.

The Talos platform now supports xStocks and Ondo Global Markets tokenized equities, giving eligible institutions outside the US the ability to trade 24/7 blockchain-based representations of US equities and ETFs through the same platform they use for digital assets, via Talos’s existing exchange connectivity.

Talos also serves as a Super Validator on the Canton Network, the leading blockchain network purpose-built for institutional financial markets, where Talos contributes to network governance while supporting the orchestration of institutional digital asset trading and settlement.

Talos was built to connect institutions to digital markets with the reliability and workflow integration this convergence demands. Participation in the DTCC Industry Working Group reflects our mission to realize the benefits of digital assets within the capital markets through institutional adoption. 

Read the DTCC announcement

‍

^{Disclaimer: Talos Global, Inc., together with its affiliates (collectively, “Talos”), is not an investment advisor or broker/dealer. No Talos product or service constitutes an offer to buy or sell, or a promotion or recommendation of, any digital asset, security, derivative, commodity, financial instrument or product or trading strategy. Further, No Talos product or service is intended to constitute investment advice or a recommendation to make (or refrain from making) any kind of investment decision and may not be relied on as such. Talos offers data and software as a service products that provide connectivity tools for institutional clients. Services may not be available in all jurisdictions.}