The Collateral AppChain enables the management of institutional collateral and mobilizes it across platforms. It does two jobs at once: it handles collateral, eligibility, pricing, haircuts, and settlement enforced on-chain, and it connects to various networks and venues where assets live. As a connector above the networks, platforms, and custody systems, Collateral AppChain creates liquidity for collateral assets and scalability for collateral applications.
Testing has demonstrated settlement of 1,000 transactions in approximately 1.7 seconds under specified test conditions
Settlement finality achievable within seconds depending on network conditions
Designed to support low transaction costs
A collateral transfer is a conditional settlement, where assets move only if the terms are met. The Collateral AppChain brings the entire deal on-chain: the matched trade or margin call, the eligibility rules, the haircut, the transfer, and the default process. Rules may be encoded into smart contracts and automatically executed.
See an ExampleA Japanese counterparty must post $50M of bilateral margin to a London dealer entity, outside US market hours. The collateral it wants to use is US tokenized equities (DTC-eligible). Step through what happens.
A Japanese counterparty owes $50M of bilateral margin to a London dealer entity, and the US market is closed. The collateral it wants to use is US tokenized equities that are DTC-eligible. Today, moving US collateral outside US hours means waiting for the next US session, so the counterparty pre-funds cash instead.
The parties define their own collateral schedule in the agreement smart contract: which assets are eligible, the haircut, and the pricing window. The business logic of the trade is theirs to set. Here they agree to a 100% title transfer with the haircut pledged back, so if a party defaults the other returns the haircut.
Pricing is flexible. The default is the prior close, but the counterparty selects intraday pricing for a live valuation of the US equities, rather than being forced onto a stale end-of-day mark.
The tokenized US equities transfer to the London entity against the obligation, at the selected intraday price and haircut. Delivery happens only if every condition in the schedule is met; otherwise the transfer simply does not execute.
The call is met in about 4 minutes, with US collateral mobilized outside US hours on terms the parties set themselves. The same event would typically wait for the next US session in today's process.
Click any card to flip it: the challenge today on the front, what the Collateral AppChain does on the back.
Every CCP has its own settlement and margin-call process. Connecting to five CCPs means building and maintaining five different workflows.
One standardized posting process across CCPs. Connect once to participate across supported venues and post everywhere. This is a meaningful simplification, and the platform is initially being demonstrated with the CCP margin use case.
The collateral provider cannot reach an asset when its home market is closed. A British holding such as a Gilt is hard to mobilize for a US-hours margin call.
The collateral provider can access any connected asset at any time. The Collateral AppChain connects into global market infrastructures and their token agents, so a tokenized Gilt or European asset is as reachable outside its home hours as a US Treasury.
Collateral is typically valued at yesterday's close, so an intraday move in the asset is not reflected until the next end-of-day cycle.
Price collateral in real time. Use the prior close if you prefer, or select an intraday price or another pricing window in the agreement, so valuations reflect the market when the collateral actually moves.
Trade terms are static and negotiated offline. Adjusting for a counterparty's risk profile can be slow and manual.
The agreement is programmable and certain business terms may be represented and automated through smart contracts. Encode eligibility and conditions directly, price to the counterparty's risk tolerance, with the terms enforcing themselves.
The Collateral AppChain is designed for institutional market participants across the collateral ecosystem. Each participant type has specific operational challenges that the platform addresses.
Optimize collateral allocation, reduce settlement risk, and unlock trapped liquidity across desks.
Faster margin calls, broader eligible collateral pools, and real-time visibility into pledged positions.
Mobilize fund assets as collateral without operational friction, supporting repo, derivatives, and lending.
Receive collateral with pre-validated eligibility, reduce settlement fails, and automate margin processing.
Extend safekeeping into the digital world, adding wallet management for tokenized holdings alongside existing asset servicing.
The whole deal lives on-chain. Eligibility, haircuts, pricing, margin, and default terms are written into the collateral agreement itself, so settlement is part of the workflow, not a separate step. The layers below are open: connect the wallets, token agents, chains, and venues you already use.
The foundation of the schematic. An EVM-compatible, permissioned Hyperledger Besu network operated by DTCC. Participants operate under a common network governance framework with consistent rules, privacy controls, and regulatory oversight.
Connects the network to external chains. Assets held on other networks reach the platform through approved interoperability providers, with custodian-backed token locking on the source chain.
The services row from the schematic: wallets, token agents, the eligibility engine, and matching venues. These are the components that hold tokens, issue them, enforce eligibility, and match trades on the network.
The core of the schematic. Each participant holds one Net Asset Pool ID. All eligible assets sit in a single pool, and the collateral agreement smart contracts work against it.
The top of the schematic: the three operational roles participants take on the network. Any participant can hold one or more of these roles within the governed, regulated network.
The highest-impact collateral workflows where the Collateral AppChain delivers value today.
Challenge today: One entity is short while another is long, but moving collateral waits for end-of-day batch, so the group borrows externally to bridge its own gap.
On the Collateral AppChain: Collateral moves between entities in minutes, any hour, on a T+0 basis.
The benefit: Trapped intraday liquidity becomes usable funding.
Challenge today: A clearing member holds high-quality equities but posts cash, because the equities cannot be mobilized and checked fast enough for an intraday call.
On the Collateral AppChain: Tokenized equities post directly to the CCP with eligibility and haircut enforced on-chain at transfer.
The benefit: Equities become first-class intraday margin, freeing the cash.
Challenge today: UMR relationships need eligible collateral, so firms transform equities and credit into government bonds to post, paying a spread on every trade.
On the Collateral AppChain: Equities and IG credit post directly as eligible IM through tokenization, screened and haircut on-chain.
The benefit: The transformation trade, and its cost, often disappears.
A short orientation for institutions exploring the Collateral AppChain. These are the stages from first conversation to going live on the network.
Talk with the DTCC Digital Assets team about joining the Collateral AppChain, the assets you want to mobilize, and the counterparties you trade with. Together we confirm the AppChain is a fit and agree on the scope of an initial engagement.
Confirm participant eligibility and the roles you will hold as Provider, Receiver, or Agent. Review the assets, counterparties, and connectivity involved so both sides understand what it takes to onboard.
Validate the platform and your web3 connectivity in a dedicated test environment, available from Q4 2026, before any production activity. Learn how to use our wallet, tokenization, and reporting infrastructure.
Complete the required agreements and onboarding steps, then move to production with support coverage agreed for your launch. From there you post, receive, and manage collateral on the live network.
Information about Collateral AppChain on this website is provided for informational purposes only. Collateral AppChain is under development, and features, functionality, timelines, availability, integrations, participant onboarding, and specifications are subject to change without notice. Performance metrics are based on testing conducted under specified conditions, and use cases are illustrative. Actual results may differ. Statements regarding future development, availability, adoption, onboarding, integrations, or capabilities are forward-looking and should not be interpreted as guarantees or commitments.