Today's launch of the DTCC Tokenization Service (DTS) marks an important milestone in the modernization of U.S. financial markets. The announcement provides details on the service and what it means for participating institutions, but for those of us who have been part of the open source blockchain community over the past decade, this milestone tells a much bigger story.
I have had a front-row seat to the years of experimentation, investment, collaboration, and learning that have brought the industry to this point, and DTCC has been a supporter and leader in our community from the very beginning.
There is a tendency to talk about financial institutions as if they are only now arriving at the blockchain table. The reality is that many have spent more than ten years building in-house expertise, evaluating technologies, working with regulators, and understanding how distributed ledger technology could support the requirements of financial markets, even during periods when blockchain was out of favor and the regulatory landscape was far from clear.
DTCC was one of the original Premier Members of Hyperledger when it launched in 2016 and has been a consistent leader throughout our history at the Linux Foundation, including the transition to LF Decentralized Trust. In January 2016, DTCC hosted one of our very first community gatherings at its Jersey City offices, bringing together people interested in exploring how open source blockchain technology could support financial services.
Over the years, DTCC has contributed far more than its supporting premier membership. Its technical teams have participated in open source development, including contributions to an early project, Hyperledger Explorer. Its leadership has helped guide our Governing Board and the broader direction of the community. DTCC's Robert Palatnick became Hyperledger Governing Board Chair in 2019, helping guide the community through an important period of growth. In 2025, Johnna Powell stepped into the role as Chair of the LF Decentralized Trust Governing Board, continuing DTCC's longstanding leadership and commitment to open source collaboration and open governance.
Having organizations like DTCC actively involved in our community has helped ensure that the technologies being developed reflect the operational, security, scalability, and regulatory requirements of institutions responsible for critical financial infrastructure.
For financial market infrastructures, technology decisions are long-term commitments. Platforms and networks must operate reliably, securely, and at scale, and institutions need confidence that the technology they depend on can continue to evolve over time, with vendor neutrality and the flexibility to work with multiple providers.
Open source offers transparency into the code, the ability to contribute directly to its development, and the flexibility to work with different technology providers. Equally importantly, open governance and open development provide a neutral environment where organizations, including competitors, can collaborate on shared infrastructure without any single vendor controlling its direction.
Our community brings together financial institutions, technology companies, researchers, developers, and policymakers and regulators. The learning goes both ways, with institutions helping developers understand the demands of regulated markets and open source communities advancing approaches to interoperability, privacy, security, and shared technology development.
DTCC's involvement reflects an understanding that the next generation of financial infrastructure will require broad industry collaboration, common standards, and technologies that can serve the market beyond any individual institution.
In 2019, Besu became the first Ethereum client contributed to a neutral open source foundation, joining Hyperledger and bringing Ethereum technology into an open governance model focused on the security, privacy, performance, and operational requirements of enterprise and institutional deployments.
Today, Besu is part of the infrastructure supporting DTCC's tokenization initiatives, including its Collateral AppChain and the private blockchain network used by DTS. DTCC's approach also supports other blockchain networks, recognizing the importance of interoperability and choice.
Besu has evolved through years of work by maintainers, contributors, and companies like Consensys, Kaleido, and others investing engineering resources into the project. Its Ethereum compatibility, smart contract capabilities, and support for both permissioned and permissionless networks make it an important choice for institutional deployments. Besu’s optionality gives organizations the flexibility to meet their requirements today while supporting future growth, interoperability, and the potential to expand from permissioned to permissionless environments as their needs evolve.
I recently discussed this broader trend in the American Banker podcast, Why big banks bet on Hyperledger Besu, including why neutral governance and open development have become increasingly important considerations for financial institutions.
Our recently published report with Ledger Insights documents 80 platforms in production or on a clear path to it from central banks, securities depositories, and financial institutions worldwide that are using LFDT technologies. This growing adoption confirms institutions are choosing openly governed open source technologies for critical financial infrastructure as transparency, vendor neutrality, interoperability, and the ability to influence the long-term direction of the technology are essential.
As we celebrate these milestones, I also want to recognize the people and organizations who make them possible.
Behind projects like Besu are maintainers and contributors who review code, address vulnerabilities, fix bugs, improve performance, and develop the features institutions need. Companies invest engineering resources, community members test releases, and institutions share requirements and expertise that help guide technical development.
As open source code becomes part of production financial infrastructure, we must recognize the responsibility to sustain the projects and communities that support it. Financial institutions depend on software that must continue to be secure, resilient, and actively maintained, requiring ongoing investment in maintainers, security practices, technical development, and open governance.
DTCC's decade of participation demonstrates the value of institutions being active contributors to the open source ecosystem, rather than simply consumers of the technology. As more financial infrastructure moves into production, I hope we see many more organizations make that same long-term commitment.
I want to congratulate the DTCC team and the institutions and technology partners that have worked alongside them to reach this milestone, and thank DTCC for its continued leadership and support of our community.
I am proud of what we have built together and excited to see how the knowledge, relationships, and open source technologies developed over the past decade are now helping shape the future of financial markets. I look forward to continuing that journey with DTCC and our entire LF Decentralized Trust community.