The SEC registered Paxos Securities Settlement Company (PSSC) as a clearing agency under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This is not just a license - it is a status that until now belonged exclusively to traditional structures like the DTCC, the infrastructure through which the settlement of most U.S. securities flows every single day. For the first time in history, a company built on blockchain has been granted the right to officially provide clearing and settlement services as a central securities depository in the American market.
There is a history behind this announcement that is easy to underestimate. Paxos began working with the SEC back in 2019, when the company received a No-Action Letter and launched an experimental blockchain-based settlement program for U.S. equities. Starting in February 2020, Paxos conducted daily clearing on real transactions with some of the world's largest financial institutions inside a fully regulated framework. That pilot proved the core thesis: blockchain can deliver same-day settlement and reduce operational costs without sacrificing reliability. The May 28 registration is the institutional acknowledgment that the proof succeeded.
"Our clearing agency registration is the result of seven years of work with the SEC. It allows us to offer the most complete infrastructure for our partners to continue evolving with the market and blockchain technology." - Charles Cascarilla, CEO and Co-Founder of Paxos
Why This Matters Right Now
Clearing and settlement is the invisible but critical infrastructure behind every financial transaction. In the U.S. today, this process takes one business day and is controlled primarily by the DTCC - infrastructure built decades ago. Blockchain can potentially compress that cycle to minutes and remove layers of intermediaries from the chain. Paxos has already proven this in practice, and now the company has the regulatory mandate to scale it. The partner network speaks for itself: PayPal, Interactive Brokers, Mastercard, Mercado Libre - this is not a startup with ambitions, but an infrastructure platform with real anchor clients from traditional finance already on board.
The registration comes at a moment when the SEC is systematically opening doors for digital assets: Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals, the GENIUS Act on stablecoins moving through the Senate, a broader softening of the regulator's stance. Clearing agency status for Paxos is part of the same trend - except this time the conversation is not about crypto speculation, but about the foundational infrastructure of the stock market itself. If Paxos executes on the potential of this registration, the U.S. clearing market will face its first real competitor with a fundamentally different technological foundation in decades.
