DTCC picks Stellar for $114 trillion tokenization push as CEO reveals inside story

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, custodian of $114 trillion in securities, chose Stellar's blockchain after first discovering its technology stack in 2018, Stellar's CEO revealed.

DTCC, the entity settling the majority of US securities transactions, selected Stellar's blockchain for its tokenization platform after first evaluating the technology in 2018, Stellar's chief executive said.

"DTCC's team discovered our tech stack back in 2018 and has been watching the network's evolution ever since," Denelle Dixon, chief executive officer of the Stellar Development Foundation, said in an interview. "The decision to integrate Stellar as the first public blockchain in their multi-chain strategy reflects years of technical evaluation."

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation custodies approximately $114 trillion in assets and processes quadrillions of dollars in transactions annually. In late May, it announced plans to connect its upcoming tokenization service to the Stellar network, making XLM the first public blockchain in its multi-chain infrastructure. The rollout follows a two-phase timeline: limited production trades begin in July 2026, with full-service expansion in October 2026, when DTC participants can opt for tokenized record-keeping as a standard feature.

The selection marks a milestone for public blockchain adoption in traditional finance. DTCC's initial asset pool covers Russell 1000 constituents, high-volume ETFs tracking major US indices, and US Treasury bills, bonds, and notes — the core of American capital markets. By integrating Stellar, DTCC is bringing on-chain settlement to the plumbing of Wall Street.

The Institutional Build

The Stellar announcement is one piece of a broader push. DTCC has assembled a 50-firm Industry Working Group that includes BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Circle, and Ondo Finance. Ripple Prime, the prime brokerage arm rebranded from Hidden Road after Ripple's April 2025 acquisition, also sits in the working group, contributing to operational standards and infrastructure design for tokenized securities settlement.

Ripple Prime's role differs from Stellar's. Ripple is focused on institutional architecture and workflow frameworks, while Stellar serves as a public ledger environment for issuance, transfer, and settlement of tokenized assets. The distinction highlights DTCC's multi-chain approach: different layers of the system built by different providers, all converging on a single tokenization standard.

July 2026 Launch Timeline

The Phase 1 launch in July 2026 will test operational and technical workflows using real data and real assets across the working group. Phase 2 in October 2026 extends tokenized record-keeping and settlement capabilities to a broader participant base. For risk control, the initial asset pool is capped at highly liquid securities only.

The progression has been deliberate. Ripple acquired Hidden Road in April 2025, gaining a prime brokerage processing over $3 trillion in annual transactions. By March 2026, Ripple Prime appeared on the NSCC directory, a DTCC subsidiary handling US clearing operations. In May 2026, it joined the tokenization working group. Stellar's integration was announced the same month.

For Stellar, the DTCC selection represents the highest-profile institutional endorsement of its network to date. For the broader crypto market, it signals that the largest clearing house in US capital markets is moving beyond experimentation and into production with public blockchain infrastructure.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.