The SEC has approved the DTCC's plan to officially put trillions of dollars in US debt and stocks onto the blockchain.

When observing the application of blockchain in the financial system, if you want to determine whether the US financial system has truly begun to treat blockchain as an "internal tool," there is one signal that is more direct than any statement—whether the clearing and settlement system is willing to use it. Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the U.S. Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) to custody and endorse tokenized stocks and other real-world assets on a pre-approved blockchain, in the form of a No-Action Letter. This is not a single innovation by a financial institution, but rather one of the core infrastructures of the US capital market, which has officially gained regulatory space for securities-grade asset recording and custody on the blockchain. The Status of DTCC In the US stock market, what investors truly hold is not the "physical ownership" of a company's stock, but rather a legally recognized accounting record within the DTCC system. Almost all U.S. listed stocks and fixed-income products ultimately complete settlement, clearing, and registration through the DTCC. It doesn't directly deal with retail investors, but it serves as the "back-office ledger" for the entire market. This is precisely why, when the DTCC was granted permission to migrate the representation of ownership of security-level assets to the blockchain, its significance lay not in "using new technology," but in the fact that—blockchain was beginning to be permitted to undertake one of the most core asset accounting functions of the US capital market. This is something that no commercial bank or crypto-native institution could accomplish alone before. According to disclosed information, DTCC will launch a limited pilot program on Canton Network to convert its custodied U.S. Treasury securities into blockchain tokens. It is important to emphasize that during the pilot program: The government bonds themselves remain within the DTCC's centralized ledger system; On-chain tokens serve only as a digital representation of ownership and rights. This is not about "moving government bonds out of the system," but rather about introducing a layer of on-chain representation and settlement logic on top of the existing system. From an institutional perspective, it clarifies at least three things: First, tokenized securities are no longer just a proof of concept. With the explicit knowledge and authorization of the SEC, tokens can be used to express securities interests without being directly dismissed as "non-compliant structures". Secondly, on-chain accounting is entering the clearing layer, rather than the peripheral application layer. Previously, blockchain was mostly used for information synchronization, reconciliation, or internal process optimization, while DTCC touches upon the most core aspect: clearing and settlement. Third, T+1 is not the end point, but a transitional form. When asset ownership exists in a programmable form, the time difference between transaction and settlement can theoretically be further compressed.

 The tacit approval of the regulators 

What is more noteworthy is the way the regulators handled it. The SEC did not pass a comprehensive rule change, but instead issued a "no-action letter," allowing the DTCC to conduct related business within a limited scope and timeframe. This sends a clear signal: regulators have accepted that "core assets on-chain" is no longer just a concept; however, they still hope to control the pace and risks through pilot programs and boundary controls. This is not a full opening up, but rather a trial run within a system. From "Innovation" to "Infrastructure" The actions of DTCC will not immediately reshape the market structure, nor will they directly change asset pricing. But it accomplished something even more important at the institutional level: on-chain records began to be incorporated into the formal operating system of core US financial assets. Once clearing, settlement, custody, and recording began to accept blockchain as a tool, the discussion of RWA moved beyond "innovative products" and entered the financial infrastructure layer. The Evolution of the Financial System SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated in a press release that this permission "marks a significant step forward in the migration of markets to on-chain technology." The weight of this statement lies precisely in its restraint. The real change lies not in price fluctuations, but in the shifting location of the ledger recognized by law and regulation. When core functions like clearing and registration are allowed to exist in the form of blockchain, the direction of the financial system's evolution has been clearly defined. It won't change the market overnight, but it will continue to influence how assets are defined, recorded, and transferred for a long time to come.