Paxos announced on May 28, 2026 that the SEC has granted its subsidiary, Paxos Securities Settlement Company LLC (PSSC), full registration as a clearing agency under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 — making it the only blockchain-native firm authorized to provide clearing and settlement services as a central securities depository in the United States.
The registration caps a seven-year regulatory process. Paxos obtained an SEC no-action letter in 2019, then ran a live clearing pilot starting February 2020, processing daily U.S. equity transactions with Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Societe Generale. That pilot demonstrated same-day settlement on blockchain rails within a regulated framework. The SEC's formal registration order, number 34-104977, was dated March 11, 2026.
"Our clearing agency registration is the result of seven years of work with the SEC, beginning with our No-Action Letter in 2019 and the settlement pilot we operated with some of the world's largest and most sophisticated financial institutions," said Charles Cascarilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos. "As a registered clearing agency, PSSC is able to provide clearing and settlement services for transactions in eligible securities."
PSSC now sits alongside the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation as a registered U.S. clearing agency — the first time the DTCC has faced a blockchain-native competitor inside the regulatory perimeter rather than on its fringe. The U.S. moved equity settlement to T+1 in 2024; PSSC's same-day and near-instant capability points toward T+0 for eligible securities, which would free up capital currently trapped in the overnight settlement window.
Paxos already operates infrastructure for PayPal, Mastercard, Interactive Brokers, and Mercado Libre. Those relationships give PSSC an immediate distribution path as it converts its pilot standing into a full commercial offering.