Source: The Defiant
Morgan Stanley's participation in the DTCC's tokenization pilot shows infrastructure is ready for digital asset settlement. The closed-network design—limiting transfers to registered wallets only—exposes the real constraint: regulatory custody and clearing, not technology. The 24/7 settlement claim matters because it reveals how much incumbent market infrastructure depends on operating hours. Moving that bottleneck from exchanges to wallets doesn't solve fragmented liquidity across traditional and crypto rails. This becomes material only when multiple depositories or brokers create interoperable networks; a single bank's walled garden remains theater until market participants can arbitrage across venues.