Paxos Securities Settlement Company, a subsidiary of blockchain firm Paxos, has been registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a clearing agency. This makes it the only blockchain-native firm approved to operate as a central securities depository in the U.S. The approval, granted under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act, is a temporary registration following seven years of regulatory engagement, including a pilot program that began in February 2020.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has granted SEC registration to Paxos Securities Settlement Company as a clearing agency. This allows the firm to operate as a central securities depository and provide clearing and settlement services while meeting ongoing regulatory requirements.
The milestone concludes a seven-year regulatory journey, Paxos CEO Charles Cascarilla stated. It began with a No-Action Letter in 2019 and a settlement pilot operating since February 2020 with major global financial institutions.
“Most importantly, it allows us to offer the most complete infrastructure for our partners to continue evolving with the market and blockchain technology,” Cascarilla said. The firm’s pilot has been clearing and settling U.S. equities daily, and a 2022 initiative with State Street achieved same-day “T+0” settlement for stock trading.
The registration arrives as traditional infrastructure moves toward tokenization. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation recently revealed plans for its own tokenization service backed by major Wall Street firms.
Paxos issues digital assets including the PayPal PYUSD stablecoin and Pax Gold (PAXG). In October 2025, an internal technical error led the company to accidentally mint and then burn 300 trillion PYUSD tokens.
