DTCC to Demonstrate Blockchain-Based Real-Time Stock Settlement on July 15
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The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. will demonstrate a blockchain-based process for settling stock trades in real time, a test case for whether traditional financial institutions can move clearing, settlement and record-keeping functions onto on-chain infrastructure.
Digital-asset news outlet BlockBeats reported on July 13 that DTCC plans to showcase the process on July 15.
Market participants view the technology as a way to simplify the clearing, settlement and trade-recording steps that follow stock transactions on Wall Street and improve efficiency across capital markets. It would allow cash and shares to change hands, and trades to be recorded, more quickly and transparently after an order is executed.
The demonstration is largely a proof of concept rather than a step toward moving the entire US stock market onto blockchain infrastructure. DTCC, one of the largest securities clearing institutions in the US, has spent years researching and developing the technology.
Analysts say tokenized securities and on-chain settlement could lower costs and improve trading efficiency. But traditional financial infrastructure still faces hurdles before shifting to blockchain, including regulation, compliance, compatibility with existing systems and coordination among market participants.
Joseph Spiro, DTCC's head of digital assets product development, said in a webinar in May that the company plans to launch a tokenization service this year. DTCC will demonstrate related use cases in a live operating environment in July and formally open the service in October, he said.
