Morgan Stanley Moves Equities and Treasuries Onto DTCC's Tokenization Rails

By Coinvote

Published November 5, 2026 - 15:23 UTC | 5 mins read

Morgan Stanley Moves Equities and Treasuries Onto DTCC's Tokenization Rails

Morgan Stanley says it has converted U.S. equities and Treasuries into tokens using the DTCC service that opened on Oct. 28. The move shows tokenization arriving inside the core settlement infrastructure of U.S. markets, not only on crypto-native venues.

Morgan Stanley tokenizes its first securities on Wall Street's own infrastructure

Morgan Stanley said on Tuesday that it has turned U.S. stocks and Treasury securities into tokens. According to Decrypt, the bank is among the first to do so through the DTCC Tokenization Service, which went live on Oct. 28.

CoinDesk framed the announcement as a follow-on to that launch and described the bank as one of the first to tokenize real-world assets. The Block reported the same core fact: the bank said it had converted the two asset types using DTCC's new service.

Amy Oldenburg, Morgan Stanley's head of digital assets strategy, said the hands-on experience of working with established market infrastructure would inform how the firm develops its digital asset capabilities as the market evolves.

What the DTCC service actually does

The Depository Trust Co., which belongs to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, operates the service. Decrypt said the DTC underpins post-trade activity in U.S. markets and holds over $114 trillion in assets.

Eligible firms can convert securities held at DTC into tokenized "digital twins" and convert them back. The tokens can be delivered to digital wallets chosen by the firm. DTCC says, as relayed by Decrypt, that a token gives its holder the identical ownership rights, investor safeguards and economic benefits attached to the underlying security.

The stated aim is to let firms move collateral and reach new pools of liquidity within minutes. At present two networks support the service, the Canton Network and DTCC's own private Besu network, and DTCC intends to bring in additional blockchains in 2027.

The numbers behind the launch

The reported figures show a service that is large in ambition but still early in adoption.

Go-live date: Oct. 28, per Decrypt and CoinDesk.
Participants signed up so far: 20 DTC participants, a count given by both Decrypt and The Defiant.
Firms that gave input during development: more than 150, according to DTCC.
Assets in DTC custody: more than $114 trillion.
Supported networks today: the Canton Network and DTCC's private Besu network, with more chains planned for 2027.

A regulatory path that began in December 2025

Decrypt traced the launch to December 2025, when the SEC issued DTC a no-action letter. The letter allowed DTC to tokenize Russell 1000 stocks, major index ETFs and U.S. Treasuries. A no-action letter signals that SEC staff will not recommend enforcement for the described activity, so it is a permission for a specific scope and not a general rule change.

Decrypt also noted that DTCC has worked with Chainlink on tokenized collateral management. That detail gives the story a link to oracle and cross-chain infrastructure, although none of the outlets reported a connection between the Morgan Stanley transaction and Chainlink's technology. Whether that earlier work feeds into the new service is an open question.

Among the participants named by Decrypt alongside Morgan Stanley are Bank of America, Citi, J.P. Morgan, Fidelity Investments, Citadel Securities and UBS.

How the outlets' accounts compare

Only Decrypt provided a full account, and it carries most of the detail on custody, legal equivalence, the regulatory timeline and the participant list. The other three outlets are represented here only through their headlines and summaries, so their reporting can be compared on those points alone.

The Block and CoinDesk both stress that Morgan Stanley is among the first banks to complete such conversions. CoinDesk adds the Oct. 28 launch date for what it calls the Tokenization Service, or DTS. The Block emphasizes equities and Treasuries specifically.

The Defiant is the only outlet whose summary mentions a transfer restriction. According to it, round-the-clock token transfers are allowed only when both registered wallets sit on one blockchain. Decrypt's account stresses movement within minutes and delivery to wallets of the firm's choice, but does not mention that restriction, so the two accounts emphasize different features. The Defiant's summary does not say whether the restriction is permanent.

Bank-led tokenization versus crypto-native venues

Decrypt contrasted the DTCC route with crypto-native efforts. It reported that Tesla, SpaceX, Amazon and Nvidia were among companies opposing the trading of their shares on OKXICE TSV, a planned tokenized stock venue being developed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the NYSE.

Because of the SEC's innovation exemption, the objections prevent the venue from offering tokenized versions of those companies' shares issued by outside parties. The DTCC model works differently because the tokens are twins of securities already held at DTC, not third-party representations.

Decrypt also cited an International Monetary Fund finding from last month. Tokenized shares change hands mostly outside U.S. trading hours, the IMF found, and their prices swing more and their markets are thinner than for conventional shares. That finding suggests demand exists, though the market is still young.

What to watch next

The first question is breadth. Twenty participants have signed up, but the reports do not say how many have converted assets or at what volume. Further announcements from the named firms would show whether Morgan Stanley's step is typical or an early outlier.

The second is interoperability. If transfers work only between registered wallets on the same chain, as The Defiant's summary indicates, the planned addition of more blockchains in 2027 will matter for how freely collateral can move.

The third is the competing model. How the SEC and the objecting companies handle tokenized third-party stock may determine how much room crypto-native venues have next to the bank-led service. Project teams building tokenization or oracle products can follow which networks DTCC adds and what technical standards it requires.

Market snapshot

Asset	Price	24h	7d	Market cap
Chainlink (LINK)	$10.99	-6.4%	-4.4%	$8.42 billion

CoinGecko data as of 2026-11-05 (UTC).

FAQ

What did Morgan Stanley tokenize through DTCC?

Morgan Stanley said it converted U.S. equities and Treasuries into tokenized form using the DTCC Tokenization Service. According to Decrypt, it is among the first firms to do so since the service launched on Oct. 28.

Which blockchains does the DTCC Tokenization Service use?

Decrypt reported that the service is available on two networks for now: the Canton Network and DTCC's own private Besu chain. DTCC plans to add more blockchains in 2027.

Do the tokenized securities carry the same rights as the originals?

DTCC says, as reported by Decrypt, that holders of the tokens receive the identical ownership rights, investor safeguards and economic benefits attached to the original securities. Firms can convert them back into the underlying securities held at DTC.