Plans by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) to bring tokenized securities to Solana could attract more traditional financial institutions to the blockchain, but regulatory restrictions may limit the impact on the network, according to analysts.
DTCC announced Thursday that it plans to connect its tokenization service to Solana in the second half of 2027. The move would allow certain securities held by its Depository Trust Company (DTC) subsidiary to be turned into digital tokens on the network.
Solana is a blockchain known for its fast transactions and low fees, making it popular for crypto trading, especially memecoins. The network had about $4.94 billion in total value locked (TVL) as of Nov. 12, according to DefiLlama.
Experts say the move could help Solana attract more activity beyond just memecoins, but it’s not clear how much new capital and transaction volume it could bring to the network. What’s more, current US regulatory rules still limit who can hold and transfer the tokenized assets.
Memes paved the way
Alex Lin, founding partner at venture capital firm Reforge, said Solana’s history of handling large amounts of memecoin trading may have helped show that the network can support traditional financial activity.
“Memes were a public stress test that gave Solana credibility that it can handle retail-scale volume cheaply and reliably,” Lin told Cointelegraph. “The casino paved the way for more institutional plumbing.”
However, under a December 2025 SEC no-action letter, DTC participants must register wallets to hold tokenized securities. The tokens can only be transferred between registered wallets, potentially limiting usage.
“It’s overstated in the near term because the SEC relief from Dec 2025 keeps these tokens in a walled garden of registered DTC participants, so permissionless retail and DeFi liquidity can’t touch these tokens directly yet,” Lin said. “Regulators need to let these assets work as true onchain collateral and that’s more policy than tech.”
DTCC launched its tokenization service on the Canton Network and its private Besu network on Oct. 28, allowing certain securities to be turned into digital tokens while keeping the same investor protections. At launch, DTCC said 20 DTC participants had signed agreements to access the service, but it has not said whether any plan to use Solana.
Cointelegraph contacted DTCC and the Solana Foundation for additional comments but has not yet heard back.
Related: Robinhood’s Tenev warns US tokenization uncertainty deters ‘serious assets’
Solana trading slows, but tokenized assets grow
Kha Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of blockchain analytics platform Birdeye, which tracks trading activity on Solana, said the blockchain has already seen growing demand for tokenized stocks without DTCC’s involvement.
According to Birdeye’s H1 2026 report, tokenized-stock trading volume on Solana reached around $4.9 billion in the first half of the year, more than six times the volume recorded in the previous six months.
Birdeye’s third-quarter report also found that more than 1 million accounts held tokenized stocks on Solana by late September.
Still, broader trading activity on Solana has slowed with the network recording about 6.9 billion transactions in the 30 days ending Nov. 11, down almost 40% from the previous 30-day period, according to Token Terminal data. Meanwhile, trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) fell 34.4% to $39.1 billion, while monthly active addresses dropped nearly 13% to 45.8 million.
Network fees also fell 39% to about $17 million over the same period. However, the value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on Solana rose almost 7% to $4.76 billion as of Nov. 11 – up from $4.46 billion on Oct. 12.
“By late September more than a million wallets had held a tokenized stock, and real-world assets on Solana had grown five times in a year,” Nguyen told Cointelegraph.
Nguyen said bringing more tokenized securities onto the network does not automatically mean more transactions or greater demand for Solana’s native cryptocurrency, SOL. “A trade is one transaction whether it moves $100 or $100 million,” Nguyen said. “What matters is turnover, not value parked on-chain.”
What could happen next?
Nguyen said DTCC’s integration would need support from banks and other financial firms to have a real impact on Solana. Institutions would also need enough liquidity to support large trades.
“Banks, brokers and issuers need to say they will issue, trade and settle there, and then do it,” Nguyen said. He added that institutions would need to actively use the tokenized securities rather than simply hold them.
“The assets must be active, not idle: traded around the clock, used as collateral to borrow against, and earning yield,” Nguyen said.
Lin agreed that the longer-term impact would depend on how the assets are used, rather than which blockchain they are issued on.
“No one cares…
cointelegraph.com