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 tokenized assets held through its Depository Trust Company could become available on Stellar starting in the first half of 2027.
The move carries weight because DTCC is one of Wall Street’s largest market utilities, overseeing more than $114 trillion in assets. The Stellar integration is designed to support issuance, settlement and lifecycle management of tokenized securities, while opening the door to future projects involving highly liquid assets such as major indices and US Treasuries.
The roots of the partnership go back to Securrency, the institutional tokenization platform acquired by DTCC in 2023 and became what is today DTCC Digital Assets.
Security, Dixon told CoinDesk in an interview, worked closely with Stellar developers on the features that regulated financial institutions need to issue on-chain assets, including recovery functionality, compliance checks and transfer restrictions. These tools were then integrated directly into the network.
“Some of the team have been working with Stellar for a long time,” Dixon said.
The news came as tokenization has become one of the dominant themes in both crypto and traditional finance, sparking interest from global banks and asset managers looking to move traditional financial instruments onto the blockchain rails.
Tokenization refers to the representation of assets such as U.S. Treasuries, 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, release collateral trapped in existing processes, and ultimately allow markets to operate 24 hours a day.
This is 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 first bet on Stellar
Dixon argued that tokenized assets are just the visible layer of a broader infrastructure change.
“Blockchain is great for books and records,” she said. “Tokenization is the result of the product, but it’s all those underlying components that are really important.”
This emphasis on record keeping is one of the reasons Franklin Templeton chose Stellar for its on-chain money market fund, BENJI. Dixon said the asset manager began exploring Stellar in 2019 and subsequently launched the fund in 2021, with the aim of placing fund records on a single shared ledger rather than relying on multiple databases.
BENJI became one of the first examples of regulated tokenized funds and helped pave the way for today’s tokenized Treasury market, which has grown to around $15 billion with the entry of BlackRock, JPMorgan and Fidelity.
Putting public blockchains at the service of regulated finance
However, for institutions, transferring assets on-chain requires more than faster settlement.
Regulated companies must comply with securities laws, sanctions requirements and investor protections, which creates demand for blockchain infrastructure capable of supporting identity checks, transfer restrictions and other compliance controls.
This need for compliance-ready infrastructure is one reason Stellar’s long-standing relationship with Securrency has proven valuable, Dixon said.
Stellar’s architecture allows issuers to add compliance, identity controls and privacy protection on top of an open network, she said. 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 decides how compliance and confidentiality come into play.”
