Morgan Stanley has become one of the first major banks to convert U.S. equities and Treasury securities into blockchain tokens using the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s new tokenization platform, a milestone for mainstream adoption of tokenized securities.
In a November 4 announcement, Morgan Stanley confirmed it used DTCC’s Tokenization Service to create blockchain-based representations of traditional financial assets. The move follows DTCC’s October 28 rollout of the platform, which launched with backing from 20 financial institutions and was developed with input from more than 150 firms.
What DTCC’s service does
DTCC’s Tokenization Service (DTS) allows eligible institutions to mint tokenized versions of securities already held at the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The platform initially supports the Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu blockchain, with additional network integrations planned for 2027. DTCC emphasizes that tokenized securities on the service preserve the same economic entitlements, ownership rights and investor protections as their traditional counterparts. The DTC currently holds more than $114 trillion in assets under custody — a reflection of the scale of the securities it handles, not the amount already tokenized.
Morgan Stanley’s strategy and timeline
Morgan Stanley said the hands-on experience of integrating tokenized securities with established market infrastructure will inform the development of its digital asset capabilities. Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s head of digital assets strategy, framed the DTCC transactions as practical groundwork for broader digital-asset operations.
The bank is building systems to let clients hold and trade blockchain-based assets alongside conventional investments and is developing custody and wallet infrastructure to support those assets. It also set up a Digital Asset Lab in September to explore stablecoins, tokenized deposits, money market funds and DeFi use cases in a controlled environment.
Separately, Morgan Stanley has said it plans to support trading of tokenized equities on its alternative trading system (ATS) beginning in Q1 2027 — a schedule pushed back from an initial target in the second half of 2026 as the firm waits for “suitable products and additional infrastructure.” An ATS would let the bank trade securities outside conventional public exchanges once the supporting systems are live. Morgan Stanley’s DTCC activity is distinct from that planned trading service and does not indicate the ATS is yet operational.
Regulatory and market context
DTCC’s announcement follows regulatory relief from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2025 that cleared the way for tokenized securities in certain regulated markets. The initial DTS coverage includes eligible U.S. equities, U.S. Treasuries and exchange-traded funds. DTCC has already tested production transactions — such as securities lending, collateral transfers and Treasury repo agreements — and says the Tokenization Service enables conversion between traditional and tokenized formats and transfers to supported wallets.
Among the other major institutions involved in the October launch are JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Fidelity, State Street and UBS, signaling broad industry interest in tokenized securities.
Market outlook and next steps
Oldenburg has said institutional demand so far is constrained by a lack of widely available tokenized products, but she remains bullish long-term: she expects the tokenized real-world asset market could grow to between $3 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030, with private shares, structured notes and investment funds as likely early use cases.
Broader industry moves
Morgan Stanley’s DTCC transactions come amid similar efforts by other legacy firms to build tokenization, trading and custody rails. On November 2 the New York Stock Exchange named four additional transfer-agent partners — Broadridge, Computershare, Equiniti and Superstate — to join Securitize and tZERO in supporting its proposed blockchain-based trading venue. The NYSE project aims to enable continuous trading, immediate settlement and stablecoin-based funding while preserving conventional shareholder rights, though it still requires regulatory approval and has no announced launch date.
Why this matters
The DTCC service and Morgan Stanley’s participation represent a significant step from pilot projects toward operational tokenization in regulated markets. By marrying tokenized instruments to established custody and clearing infrastructure, institutions are testing the plumbing needed to let institutional investors access blockchain-native securities alongside traditional holdings — a prerequisite for broader market adoption.
In a November 4 announcement, Morgan Stanley confirmed it used DTCC’s Tokenization Service to create blockchain-based representations of traditional financial assets. The move follows DTCC’s October 28 rollout of the platform, which launched with backing from 20 financial institutions and was developed with input from more than 150 firms.
What DTCC’s service does
DTCC’s Tokenization Service (DTS) allows eligible institutions to mint tokenized versions of securities already held at the Depository Trust Company (DTC). The platform initially supports the Canton Network and DTCC’s private Besu blockchain, with additional network integrations planned for 2027. DTCC emphasizes that tokenized securities on the service preserve the same economic entitlements, ownership rights and investor protections as their traditional counterparts. The DTC currently holds more than $114 trillion in assets under custody — a reflection of the scale of the securities it handles, not the amount already tokenized.
Morgan Stanley’s strategy and timeline
Morgan Stanley said the hands-on experience of integrating tokenized securities with established market infrastructure will inform the development of its digital asset capabilities. Amy Oldenburg, the bank’s head of digital assets strategy, framed the DTCC transactions as practical groundwork for broader digital-asset operations.
The bank is building systems to let clients hold and trade blockchain-based assets alongside conventional investments and is developing custody and wallet infrastructure to support those assets. It also set up a Digital Asset Lab in September to explore stablecoins, tokenized deposits, money market funds and DeFi use cases in a controlled environment.
Separately, Morgan Stanley has said it plans to support trading of tokenized equities on its alternative trading system (ATS) beginning in Q1 2027 — a schedule pushed back from an initial target in the second half of 2026 as the firm waits for “suitable products and additional infrastructure.” An ATS would let the bank trade securities outside conventional public exchanges once the supporting systems are live. Morgan Stanley’s DTCC activity is distinct from that planned trading service and does not indicate the ATS is yet operational.
Regulatory and market context
DTCC’s announcement follows regulatory relief from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2025 that cleared the way for tokenized securities in certain regulated markets. The initial DTS coverage includes eligible U.S. equities, U.S. Treasuries and exchange-traded funds. DTCC has already tested production transactions — such as securities lending, collateral transfers and Treasury repo agreements — and says the Tokenization Service enables conversion between traditional and tokenized formats and transfers to supported wallets.
Among the other major institutions involved in the October launch are JPMorgan, Citi, Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Fidelity, State Street and UBS, signaling broad industry interest in tokenized securities.
Market outlook and next steps
Oldenburg has said institutional demand so far is constrained by a lack of widely available tokenized products, but she remains bullish long-term: she expects the tokenized real-world asset market could grow to between $3 trillion and $10 trillion by 2030, with private shares, structured notes and investment funds as likely early use cases.
Broader industry moves
Morgan Stanley’s DTCC transactions come amid similar efforts by other legacy firms to build tokenization, trading and custody rails. On November 2 the New York Stock Exchange named four additional transfer-agent partners — Broadridge, Computershare, Equiniti and Superstate — to join Securitize and tZERO in supporting its proposed blockchain-based trading venue. The NYSE project aims to enable continuous trading, immediate settlement and stablecoin-based funding while preserving conventional shareholder rights, though it still requires regulatory approval and has no announced launch date.
Why this matters
The DTCC service and Morgan Stanley’s participation represent a significant step from pilot projects toward operational tokenization in regulated markets. By marrying tokenized instruments to established custody and clearing infrastructure, institutions are testing the plumbing needed to let institutional investors access blockchain-native securities alongside traditional holdings — a prerequisite for broader market adoption.