Hashkey, a leading Asian digital asset company, has become the first digital asset service provider from Asia to join the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Digital Assets Advisory Services Industry Working Group.
DTCC’s digital expansion and industry alliance
Hashkey will collaborate with over 100 global financial institutions and asset managers in the group, aiming to shape the industry standards for the issuance, settlement, and safeguarding of tokenized assets at an institutional level. Major market players such as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq, and the New York Stock Exchange are also participants in the working group, according to Hashkey’s Wednesday announcement.
DTCC serves as a central post-trade services provider, handling the clearing and settlement of securities transactions for traditional financial markets. The working group was established to bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralized finance (DeFi), focusing on industry best practices as digital assets become increasingly integrated into mainstream finance.
DTCC is planning to enable access to tokenized securities in October, in collaboration with the working group members. The institution currently holds custody of $114 trillion in liquid assets, including stocks and exchange-traded funds.
Mini dictionary: DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation), a major US-based financial services company providing clearing, settlement, and custody services for securities transactions across global markets.
SEC support for securities tokenization
In December, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a “no action” letter to a DTCC subsidiary. This measure allows the subsidiary to begin offering a new service for securities market tokenization, providing a regulatory green light for further innovation in this area.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins described this approval as an early but important move towards integrating blockchain technology into regulated financial sectors. He stated the commission will consider an innovation exemption, which could let market participants begin transitioning operations onchain without facing excessive regulatory hurdles.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins emphasized that the regulatory approval for DTCC’s pilot is only the first step and highlighted the SEC’s willingness to consider innovation exemptions aimed at supporting industry transitions onchain, noting, “We want to support builders in moving markets onchain without cumbersome regulatory requirements.”
Atkins initially proposed the innovation exemption concept during his remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on DeFi, held on June 9.
Rising activity in Asia’s digital asset ecosystem
The involvement of Hashkey in this global working group marks a significant development for the Asian digital asset industry, as regional institutions increasingly play a role in large-scale infrastructure initiatives for tokenized assets, following recent digital asset custody deals by companies such as Ripple and Coincheck.
