SEC clears path for onchain settlement of U.S. Securities

“As I told Maria Bartiromo last week, U.S. financial markets are poised to move onchain.” That was SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins yesterday, following the issuance of a no-action letter allowing the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the core entity within DTCC, to tokenize U.S. securities on public blockchains. His framing was unusually direct: the SEC is now “prioritizing innovation” to enable onchain markets, while preserving existing investor protections.

To understand the importance of this, it helps to recall what DTCC actually does. DTCC is the market’s post-trade backbone: it is where settlement happens and where legal ownership is recorded. In almost all cases, DTCC is the shareholder of record for U.S. equities, Treasuries, and ETFs. When a trade clears, it clears through DTCC. When a position legally exists, it exists on their books. Basically, nothing moves in U.S. capital markets without them.

The SEC’s decision now authorizes DTC (the core company within DTCC) to issue tokenized versions of real securities such as Russell 1000 equities, major ETFs, and U.S. Treasuries on pre-approved public blockchains, with the digital version carrying the exact same legal rights, investor protections, and entitlements as the traditional asset. These tokens are not IOUs or wrappers or some other halfway house. They are the securities themselves, recognized by U.S. market infrastructure. Under the pilot, DTC participants can transfer tokenized securities directly between registered wallets, with DTCC maintaining the official record. As Atkins put it, onchain markets “bring greater predictability, transparency, and efficiency,” notably by enabling near-instant settlement rather than multi-day clearing cycles, freeing up huge amounts of capital.

The program is limited and time-bound, and many details still remain open, including which L1s and L2s will be approved. But still, the signal is hard to ignore: core market infrastructure is beginning to treat public blockchains as viable settlement rails.

Also this week

• SEC Approves DTCC Pilot to Record US Securities on Select Blockchains
• Stripe's Tempo payments blockchain opens to public with Mastercard, UBS onboard
• SEC Chair Atkins says many types of crypto ICOs are outside agency’s purview
• Robinhood expands crypto offerings with futures, staking, and stock tokens
• Superstate debuts direct on-chain stock issuance platform for public US firms
• CFTC to pilot tokenized collateral in derivatives markets

Relevant financial updates

• Stable*, a Layer 1 blockchain that facilitates free peer-to-peer USDT transfers and is designed to support real-world payment applications, has launched its token and is currently trading at a $1.46bln FDV
• Valora*, a blockchain-based platform that enables users to send, swap, collect, and purchase digital goods on the Celo blockchain, has been acquired by Stripe for an undisclosed amount
• Aztec*, a privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2 solution, has raised $60mln in a Public Token Sale
• Asgard Finance*, a Solana-based liquidity and yield protocol, has raised $2.20mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Robot Ventures, Solana Ventures, Anatoly Yakovenko, Presto Labs, Colosseum and 52 others
• Gondor*, a protocol that enables users to borrow against positions held on Polymarket, has raised $2.50mln in a Pre Seed funding round with investments from Maven 11 Capital, Castle Island Ventures and Prelude
• Crown*, a company that issues institutional‑grade stablecoins denominated in Brazilian real (BRL), has raised $13.50mln at a $90mln valuation in a Series A funding round with investments from Paradigm
• Pye*, a platform that provides a decentralized bond marketplace on the Solana blockchain, has raised $5mln in a Seed funding round with investments from Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Nascent, Gemini Frontier Fund and Solana Labs.
• Cascade*, a trading service that enables 24/7 trading in crypto, U.S. equities, and private markets, has raised $15mln in a funding round with investments from Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Variant and Archetype
• Surf*, an AI-powered crypto intelligence platform that integrates social signals, blockchain data, and curated research into a single desktop app, has raised $15mln in a funding round with investments from Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Pantera Capital

*Underlying TBV portfolio position | Prices as per 12/12

Interesting things to read

• 17 things we’re excited about for crypto in 2026 by a16z crypto
• Fidelity Chairman and CEO Abigail P. Johnson shares an inside look into Fidelity’s decade of crypto experimentation on the a16z crypto podcast

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