DTCC -- The Biggest Clearinghouse in the World -- Needs Blockchain

The DTCC Processes $2 Quadrillion Worth of Stock Transactions Every Year

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC for short) is a massive company that handles all the behind-the-scenes steps for $2.3 quadrillion (that’s $2.3 million billion) worth of stock sales every year.

The U.S.-based DTCC is the largest financial clearing house in the world. A clearing house acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers of stocks, and the DTCC handles the vast majority of trades that happen in the U.S.

The DTCC Started In the 1970s to Rescue Wall Street from Drowning in Paper

By the early 1970s, Wall Street was drowning in paper, and no one could keep up. Trades were failing because they got lost in the shuffle. The The Depository Trust Company, the predecessor to the DTCC was formed to tackle the problem and computerize the whole process. https://www.dtcc.com/annuals/museum/index.html

What is the DTCC https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dtcc.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depository_Trust_%26_Clearing_Corporation

in 2021 the DTCC handled trades valued at $2.37 Quadrillion (that's 2.37 million billion dollars) https://www.dtcc.com/annuals/2021/performance/dashboard

The DTCC is Aggressively Pursuing Blockchain

Since 2019 the DTCC has been actively pursuing several blockchain projects in order to cut costs, cut down on mistakes, and speed up settlement of trades.

1. Project Ion, a DLT project for managing securities trades https://dtcc-connection.medium.com/innovation-insight-dtccs-project-ion-9aabda5be247

2. Project Whitney, a DLT project for managing private market securities, https://www.dtcc.com/-/media/Files/PDFs/White-Paper/Digital-Securities-Management-Industry-Update-White-Paper.pdf

3. the Digital Dollar Pilot and DTCC Security Settlement Pilot (that one doesn't have a cool codename yet) https://www.dtcc.com/-/media/Files/Downloads/WhitePapers/DDP-DTCC-Pilot-Report-FINAL-November-112022.pdf