Two models for putting securities onchain
The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation has launched a tokenization service designed to connect eligible securities held within the traditional custody system to blockchain-based markets. In its announcement, DTCC said its Tokenization Service had gone live with initial connections to the Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu network.
The service supports tokenized representations of eligible securities held in custody at the Depository Trust Company, DTCC’s central securities depository. The company said the system is intended to improve collateral mobility, liquidity and the ability to convert between traditional and tokenized forms of an asset.
That design places DTCC at the center of an institutional experiment. Rather than replacing existing market infrastructure, the service appears intended to extend it onto controlled blockchain networks. Securities remain connected to the regulated custody framework, while participants gain access to programmable records and potentially faster movement of collateral.
The regulatory foundation is similarly limited and controlled. In a no-action letter, the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets granted relief for DTC’s preliminary tokenization program. The relief covers tokenized entitlements to certain securities held by DTC, provided those entitlements move between registered participant wallets and comply with specified controls.
The restrictions matter. DTCC’s initial service is not a universal system for putting every stock or bond on any blockchain. It is limited by the securities that qualify, the participants permitted to use it and the networks connected to the service. That narrow starting point may help institutions test the technology without immediately exposing core settlement processes to the full risks of open networks.
Securitize is approaching the market from a different direction. Its products use public blockchains to represent securities and provide regulated access to onchain trading. The company’s latest stock product operates on Solana and is backed one-for-one by the underlying shares. Securitize says investors receive applicable economic benefits and rights, including dividends and voting rights where those rights apply.
The company described the product in its announcement of global onchain trading for U.S. stocks with security entitlements as being designed for regulated trading and future collateral or lending applications. That gives the tokens a purpose beyond simply tracking the price of a listed company. They are intended to become usable financial instruments within a broader digital market.
Validation rather than direct competition
The distinction between the two approaches has led to debate over whether DTCC threatens Securitize’s business. StoneX analyst Mark Palmer argued that the opposite may be true. The Block reported that StoneX viewed DTCC’s launch as validation for Securitize, rather than a direct threat to its public-blockchain strategy.
Palmer’s reasoning rests partly on infrastructure. Securitize already has an SEC-registered transfer agent, broker-dealer and alternative trading system, according to The Block’s account of the StoneX analysis. Those licenses give the company a regulatory framework for issuing and trading tokenized securities, while its use of a public blockchain gives it access to markets that are not confined to a private institutional network.
StoneX maintained a buy rating and an $18 price target for Securitize. The company’s stock was trading near $7.30 when The Block published its report and had declined 24% since its July 2025 listing. Those figures show that the market has not automatically priced in the strategic value StoneX sees in tokenization adoption.
No opposing analyst view was included in the supplied reporting. That means the claim that DTCC will benefit Securitize remains an attributed investment thesis, not an established market consensus.
The disagreement may also be less binary than it first appears. DTCC and Securitize could compete for some of the same assets, particularly funds and publicly traded securities. Yet their systems may serve different layers of the market. DTCC is building a controlled bridge for institutions that already depend on centralized custody and regulated settlement. Securitize is building products that can connect regulated securities to public-chain trading venues, lending protocols and other applications.
Collateral could determine the winner
The most important question is not whether a security has been tokenized. It is whether the token can be used efficiently after issuance.
DTCC’s announcement places collateral mobility among the central goals of its service. That focus reflects a practical institutional need. Banks, brokerages and funds frequently move collateral between market participants, and delays can increase funding costs or leave capital underused. A tokenized representation that can be transferred under recognized controls could make those processes more continuous.
Securitize is making a similar argument through public networks. The company says its stock entitlements are intended for future collateral and lending use. The Block also reported that tokenized private credit on Solana had reached $1.44 billion, with credit tokens from Securitize and Maple accepted as collateral in lending markets such as Kamino.
That development points to a possible bridge between traditional assets and decentralized finance. If tokenized Treasury instruments, fund shares, equities or private credit can be accepted as collateral, their value may come less from the novelty of blockchain ownership and more from their ability to support borrowing, settlement and trading.
Public networks offer potential advantages in this area because they can operate continuously and connect different applications through shared infrastructure. They also introduce challenges involving compliance, wallet controls, liquidity fragmentation and investor eligibility. Permissioned systems may offer institutions greater control, but their usefulness could depend on whether enough participants and assets join the same network.
An infrastructure test, not a final verdict
DTCC’s launch gives tokenization a major endorsement from an organization embedded in the machinery of U.S. securities markets. The SEC relief adds a regulated path for testing the model. Securitize’s public-chain products show that tokenized securities are also moving toward more flexible environments where trading and lending can occur outside traditional market hours.
The likely outcome is not an immediate victory for one model. Institutional networks may handle the most controlled forms of settlement and collateral management, while public blockchains may attract products that benefit from broader composability and connection to DeFi.
The decisive test will be whether either model can deliver dependable liquidity, clear legal rights and useful collateral functionality at scale. DTCC has made the institutional route more credible. Securitize is betting that the next stage of the market will require securities to move beyond custody and into an always-available financial ecosystem.
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Read and checked by admin on 11/3/2026
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