Wall Street Goes Onchain: 20 Trad Titans Join the Tokenization Line 🧾

Morgan Stanley has begun tokenizing U.S. stocks and Treasuries through the DTCC Tokenization Service, placing a Wall Street heavyweight among the first participants in an initiative to convert securities held by the Depository Trust Co. into blockchain-based instruments. The service went live Oct. 28 and is operated by the Depository Trust Co., a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp.

The tokens function as digital twins of eligible securities and can be converted back into their original form. According to DTCC, they retain the same ownership rights, investor protections and economic entitlements as the underlying assets while allowing firms to transfer collateral and access new pools of liquidity within minutes. The service currently operates on the Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu network, with additional blockchains planned for 2027.

“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,” said Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley’s head of digital assets strategy.

Morgan Stanley is one of 20 DTC participants signed up for the service, alongside Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Citadel Securities and UBS. DTCC said it developed the platform with input from more than 150 firms and is also working with Chainlink on tokenized collateral management, including plans for its Collateral AppChain platform to incorporate Chainlink’s Runtime Environment and data standard.

The launch follows a December 2025 no-action letter from the SEC allowing DTC to tokenize Russell 1000 stocks, major index ETFs and U.S. Treasuries. DTCC has more than $114 trillion in assets under custody and describes itself as the post-trade backbone of U.S. markets.

The bank-led approach differs from crypto-native projects 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 prevent the venue from listing third-party tokenized versions of their stock.