DTCC’s decision to connect its upcoming tokenized securities platform to the Stellar (XLM) network is the latest step in a relationship that dates back nearly a decade, according to Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation.
Earlier this week, DTCC said that tokenized assets held through the Depository Trust Company could become available on Stellar from the first half of 2027.
The move matters because DTCC is one of Wall Street’s most important utilities, overseeing more than $114 trillion in assets. The Stellar integration is designed to support the issuance, settlement and lifecycle management of tokenized securities, while opening the door for future projects involving highly liquid assets such as major indexes and US Treasury bonds.
The partnership’s roots go back to Securrency, the institutional tokenization platform that DTCC acquired in 2023 and became what is now DTCC Digital Assets.
Security, Dixon told CoinDesk in an interview, worked closely with Stellar developers on features that regulated financial institutions need to issue assets on-chain, including chargeback functionality, compliance checks and transfer restrictions. These tools were later built directly into the network.
“Some of the team has been working with Stellar for a long time,” said Dixon.
The news arrived as tokenization has become one of the dominant themes in both crypto and traditional finance, drawing interest from global banks and asset managers looking to move traditional financial instruments onto blockchain rails.
Tokenization refers to representing assets such as US government bonds, money market funds, stocks or private credit as digital tokens that can be issued, traded and settled on blockchains. Proponents argue that the technology could shorten settlement times, free up collateral tied up in existing processes and ultimately allow markets to function 24 hours a day.
It’s potentially a huge market. Standard Chartered predicted $2 trillion in tokenized assets by 2028, while BCG and Ripple predicted a market size of $18.9 trillion by 2033.
Franklin Templeton’s early bet on Stellar
Dixon argued that tokenized assets are just the visible layer of a broader infrastructure shift.
“Blockchain is excellent at books and records,” she said. “Tokenization is the outcome of the product, but it’s all these underlying components that are very important.”
That focus on record keeping was one of the reasons Franklin Templeton chose Stellar for its onchain money market fund, BENJI. Dixon said the asset manager began exploring Stellar in 2019 and launched the fund later in 2021, with the aim of putting fund data on one shared ledger rather than relying on multiple databases.
BENJI became one of the first examples of a regulated tokenized fund and helped pave the way for today’s tokenized Treasury market, which has grown to approximately $15 billion as BlackRock, JPMorgan and Fidelity enter the ring.
Making public blockchains work for regulated finance
For institutions, however, moving assets off-chain requires more than faster settlement.
Regulated companies must comply with securities laws, sanctions requirements and investor protections, creating demand for blockchain infrastructure that can support identity checks, transfer restrictions and other compliance checks.
That need for a compliance-ready infrastructure is one reason why Stellar’s long-standing relationship with Securrency proved valuable, Dixon said.
Stellar’s architecture allows publishers to add compliance, identity controls and privacy protections to an open network, she says. Asset issuers can decide whether transfers require know-your-customer (KYC) checks, whether assets can be frozen or recovered, and what transaction information remains visible.
“The base layer will always be open,” Dixon said. “Then the institution can decide how compliance and privacy will play a role.”