DFC

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a Nasdaq rule change allowing certain listed securities to clear and settle in tokenized form via a Depository Trust Company (DTC) tokenization pilot. The order authorizes trading tokenized versions of large-cap equities and major index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the same order book, with identical CUSIP, symbol, rights, and execution priority as traditional shares, with tokenization preferences expressed through an order flag and implemented post‑trade by DTC. This embeds distributed-ledger-based entitlements within existing exchange, clearing, and surveillance infrastructures, preserves T+1 settlement, and treats tokenized and traditional shares identically for fees, market data, and audit trail. The SEC frames the decision as technology‑neutral, while leaving broader questions about alternative tokenization models, issuer choice, and future non‑fungible tokenized instruments to subsequent rulemakings. [SEC]

The World Bank published a technical note outlining how fast payment systems (FPS) can incorporate near-field communication (NFC) and offline payment capabilities as “extended” channels and instruments, largely implemented at the payment service provider (PSP) level rather than in central infrastructure. The paper argues that NFC can shift consumer-initiated payments from cards and QR codes toward FPS by providing tap-based, tokenized, real-time credit transfers across payer‑ and payee‑initiated models, while raising device, scheme-rule, and fraud‑management questions. Offline models—deferred, temporary person‑to‑person, and person‑to‑merchant wallets—are positioned as critical for transit, low‑connectivity regions, and inclusion, but they introduce double‑spend, liability, and supervision challenges that require tight limits, secure elements, and explicit policy stances on where offline FPS should remain an exception versus a mainstream channel. [World Bank]