DTCC’s decision to connect its upcoming tokenized securities platform to the Stellar (XLM) network is the latest step in a nearly 10-year relationship, according to Stellar Development Foundation CEO Denelle Dixon.
Earlier this week, DTCC announced that tokenized assets held through the Depository Trust Company could be available on Stellar from early 2027.
The move carries weight because DTCC is one of Wall Street’s core market utilities, managing more than $114 trillion in assets. Stellar’s integration is designed to support issuance, settlement, and lifecycle management of tokenized securities, while opening the door to future projects including major indexes and highly liquid assets such as U.S. Treasuries.
The roots of the partnership go back to Securrency, an institutional tokenization platform that DTCC acquired in 2023 and became what is now DTCC Digital Assets.
In an interview with CoinDesk, Dixon said he worked closely with Stellar developers on security and the regulated financial institution features needed to issue assets on-chain, including clawback features, compliance controls, and transfer limits. These tools were later integrated directly into the network.
“Some of our team have been working with Stella for many years,” Dixon said.
This news comes as tokenization has become one of the major themes in both cryptocurrencies and traditional finance, attracting interest from global banks and asset managers looking to move traditional financial products onto blockchain rails.
Tokenization refers to representing assets such as U.S. government bonds, money market funds, stocks, and private credit as digital tokens that can be issued, traded, and settled on a blockchain. Proponents say the technology could speed up settlement times, free up collateral trapped in traditional processes, and ultimately allow markets to operate around the clock.
It’s a potentially huge market. Standard Chartered predicted that tokenized assets would reach $2 trillion 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 a visible layer of broader infrastructure change.
“Blockchain is great for bookkeeping and records,” she says. “Tokenization is a product outcome, but what really matters are the underlying components of all of this.”
A focus on record-keeping was one of the reasons Franklin Templeton chose Stellar for its on-chain money market fund, BENJI. Dixon said the asset manager started considering Stellar in 2019 and then launched the fund in 2021, with the aim of putting the fund’s records on a single shared ledger rather than relying on multiple databases.
BENJI became one of the early examples of a regulated tokenized fund and helped pave the way for today’s tokenized government bond market, which has grown to approximately $15 billion with the entry of BlackRock, JP Morgan, and Fidelity.
Making public blockchain work in regulated finance
But for institutions, moving assets on-chain requires more than faster settlement.
Regulated companies must comply with securities laws, sanctions requirements, and investor protection, creating demand for blockchain infrastructure that can support identity verification, transfer restrictions, and other compliance controls.
Dixon said the need for a compliant infrastructure is one reason Stellar’s long-standing relationship with Security has proven valuable.
Stellar’s architecture allows issuers to add compliance, identity management and privacy protection on top of an open network, he said. Asset issuers can decide whether transfers require know-your-customer (KYC) checks, whether assets can be frozen or recalled, and which transaction information remains visible.
“The base layer is always going to be open,” Dixon said. “The agency will then decide how to consider compliance and privacy.”
