HashKey Group has joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s Digital Assets Advisory Services Industry Working Group, becoming the first Asian digital asset service provider to take part in the initiative.
The Hong Kong-based company said on 2 September that it would contribute to discussions about how tokenised securities can be issued, transferred, settled and safeguarded using institutional market infrastructure.
The working group now has more than 100 members, according to HashKey, including financial institutions, asset managers and digital asset companies. Its announcement named JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange among the participants.
DTCC’s own announcement in May identified more than 50 organisations. The higher figure cited by HashKey appears to include members added since the group was first made public, although DTCC has not released an updated, complete list.
HashKey runs digital asset trading, asset management and onchain infrastructure businesses in a number of regulated markets. Its operations extend across Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and Bermuda.
The company has been involved in tokenisation initiatives led by Hong Kong financial authorities since 2023. It is a member of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Project Ensemble Architecture Community, which is examining whether tokenised deposits and wholesale central bank money can support transactions involving tokenised assets.
HashKey is also part of Hong Kong’s Tokenised Bond Expert Group. It said it had supported the issuance and circulation of tokenised money market exchange traded funds, bonds and structured notes.
That experience is relevant to the DTCC initiative because Hong Kong has been testing institutional tokenisation within a regulated framework. Regulators there have also been developing tokenised fund and settlement infrastructure aimed at linking digital assets with established financial systems.
HashKey said it would bring its Asia Pacific regulatory and operational experience to the working group’s discussions on global tokenisation standards. Its involvement does not amount to regulatory approval for any HashKey product, membership of DTC or a commitment by DTCC to use HashKey infrastructure.
DTCC established the group to advise on the development of its planned tokenisation service. Members include banks, brokerages, asset managers, exchanges, custodians and blockchain infrastructure businesses.
In its May release, DTCC said the participants would consider product functionality, operational procedures and market standards. Their work includes examining how eligible securities could move between traditional records and blockchain-based representations.
The proposed service would allow DTC participants to create tokenised versions of eligible securities already held in DTC custody. These representations are sometimes called digital twins because the underlying securities would remain inside the regulated depository system.
Approved users would be able to move tokenised securities to authorised wallets and convert them between conventional and tokenised formats. DTCC says the model is intended to maintain the ownership rights and investor protections associated with the underlying assets.
However, the working group is advisory rather than executive. Its members can offer technical and operational feedback, but they have no authority over DTCC systems and are not guaranteed commercial access to the completed service.
DTCC completed its first batch of tokenised transactions in a production environment in July. The tests involved securities held at DTC and included equity transfers, collateral pledges, securities lending and delivery versus payment transactions involving U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements.
The trials took place on DTCC’s private blockchain, which is based on Hyperledger Besu, and on the public Canton Network. Assets reportedly involved in the programme included Microsoft and Circle shares, the Invesco QQQ Trust, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF and a BlackRock Treasury exchange traded fund.
JPMorgan also completed a conversion involving Invesco QQQ Trust shares. The transaction showed how a security held at DTC could be represented by a blockchain-based record while the underlying asset remained within the existing custody structure.
The production tests have been described as a step towards onchain settlement for tokenised securities. They were not an unrestricted public launch, with participation limited to approved institutions and defined test cases.
DTCC plans to launch standardised tokenisation services in October 2026. The first version is expected to include compliance and distribution controls, while future releases may introduce automation for issuance, servicing and corporate actions.
DTC is a central securities depository and a systemically important financial market utility in the United States. HashKey said it safeguards more than $114tn in assets.
That figure represents the value of securities held within DTC’s custody infrastructure. It does not mean that those assets have already been tokenised or are all scheduled to move on to blockchains.
DTCC’s model differs from platforms that issue tokens outside the traditional custody system. Under its planned structure, the underlying securities would stay at DTC while approved tokenised representations were recorded across supported networks.
The approach is designed to connect blockchain-based transfers with existing ownership records, compliance safeguards and settlement processes. DTCC says this could enable tokenised assets to access established market liquidity and investor protections, although those benefits will depend on the final design of the service and how widely institutions adopt it.
HashKey’s immediate role will be to take part in the working group’s discussions as DTCC moves towards the October launch. Neither company has disclosed a separate HashKey integration, jointly issued tokenised product or commercial agreement.
