DTCC expands CME cross-margining

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and CME Group are to continue progress on their efforts to extend their existing cross-margining arrangement to end-user clients.

The Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) has now formally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expand its cross-margining arrangement with CME Group.

CME Group filed with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in late September.

The CFTC has also published a proposed order granting a limited exemption necessary for CME and FICC to make their existing cross-margining arrangement available to certain customers with appropriate safeguards.

Under the proposal, both FICC and CME would be able to extend their existing cross-margining arrangement to end-user clients of dually registered broker dealers and futures commission merchants (FCMs) that are common members of both organisations.

End-user clients would benefit from increased capital and margin efficiencies when trading US Treasury securities and interest rate futures from CME Group that have offsetting risk exposures because the clearing organisations would consider the net risk for margin calculations.

Under the proposed arrangement FICC will also designate cross-margin accounts, allowing all eligible positions in the account to offset with eligible CME Group interest rate futures.

CME Group will allow participants to direct futures to end-user cross-margin accounts throughout the day, making them available for offset in the cross-margin arrangement.

Additional Info from AI:

big recent developments around the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and its push into blockchain-based tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) like stocks, bonds, Treasuries, and more.The key update isn't directly about Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) taking over or DTCC fully switching to blockchain overnight, but there are strong connections: DTCC has received major regulatory green lights and partnerships to start tokenizing assets on blockchain infrastructure, with pilots and launches targeted for 2026. BNY Mellon is involved in related tokenized deposit and custody efforts, but the headline DTCC news is separate.The Major Recent DTCC Update (Late 2025 into 2026)

On December 11, 2025, DTCC's subsidiary The Depository Trust Company (DTC) received a No-Action Letter from the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission). This gives them clearance to offer a new tokenization service for certain highly liquid DTC-custodied assets (e.g., stocks, ETFs, U.S. Treasuries) on approved blockchains.
- This is a three-year pilot/authorization period.
- The service allows participants to create digital representations (tokens) of traditional securities that carry the same rights, protections, and ownership as the originals.
- Launch/rollout is planned for the second half of 2026 (H2 2026), starting with a controlled minimum viable product (MVP).
- Goal: Enhance liquidity, efficiency, 24/7 access, and interoperability while bridging traditional finance (TradFi) and digital assets.
On December 17, 2025, DTCC announced a partnership with Digital Asset to tokenize DTC-custodied U.S. Treasury securities specifically on the Canton Network (a permissioned blockchain platform focused on privacy, compliance, and interoperability for institutional RWAs).
- DTCC is co-chairing the Canton Foundation (along with Euroclear), giving them big influence.
- This is the first production step in making high-value assets available on-chain.
- Analysts see potential for massive growth: Tokenized Treasuries could exceed $5T+ if money market funds migrate, with broader RWAs (real estate, bonds, equities) pushing the market toward trillions.
Broader context: DTCC processes trillions in daily settlements (e.g., $3.7 quadrillion in 2024 volume). This move is seen as Wall Street's "surrender" to tokenization — making markets more programmable, faster, and global — while keeping safeguards intact.

BNY Mellon ConnectionBNY Mellon (a massive custodian with $55T+ in assets) is pushing its own tokenized deposits (on-chain representations of client deposits for blockchain payments) and participated in earlier DTCC/Chainlink pilots (like Smart NAV for fund tokenization in 2024). But the current DTCC tokenization push is DTCC-led, not BNY Mellon "on blockchain" directly. BNY's efforts complement this ecosystem shift toward tokenized finance.Why This Matters for RWAs

The tokenized RWA market is already approaching $20B (excluding stablecoins) as of early 2026.
Institutional momentum + regulatory clarity (like this SEC letter) could explode it to $100B+ or more by late 2026.
It's not full public blockchain (like Ethereum/Solana) everywhere — often permissioned networks like Canton for compliance — but it's a huge step toward digitizing "everything" (stocks, bonds, real estate, etc.).

Official DTCC sources confirm this (e.g., their news page on tokenization). Recent X chatter echoes excitement about DTCC planning to digitize 1.4 million securities and how it disintermediates old systems.