[Digital Today reporter Jinju Hong (홍진주)] As the United States’ Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the world’s largest securities clearing and depository institution, unveiled plans to expand tokenised assets via the Stellar network, concerns are spreading among XRP investors about being left out. Some in the market, however, also say it is hard to view this as a direct negative for XRP or Ripple.

On May 28 local time, blockchain outlet The Crypto Basic reported that crypto industry founder Jay Nisbett said DTCC’s recent move does not mean it is selecting a single blockchain as the winner. He said it is closer to a strategy to expand interoperability by connecting multiple public blockchains.

The controversy began after DTCC said it would expand tokenisation of DTC custody assets on the Stellar network by 2027. DTCC said it would work with the Stellar Development Foundation to build a system to support digital asset issuance and tokenisation and to create financial infrastructure with stronger interoperability. It also stressed the move was part of a multi-chain strategy, not reliance on a single chain.

Nisbett drew a line, saying Stellar is only one of several options. He said DTCC is not trying to place its entire structure on one network, and that the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum (ETH) are also chains being considered.

He said the core value of tokenised finance lies in payments and interoperability rather than simple asset issuance. He said what matters is a structure that allows assets to move freely and connect across networks, rather than which chain they sit on, as with stablecoins.

Nisbett also stressed that the practical settlement infrastructure for the U.S. stock market remains under DTCC’s control. He said public blockchains such as Stellar serve as an additional layer that supplements trading and liquidity, while final clearing and settlement are handled within DTCC’s internal systems. Under such a structure, he argued, adopting Stellar is hard to see as meaning XRP is excluded or Ripple is weakened.

An assessment also emerged that Ripple’s institutional finance strategy remains competitive. Nisbett pointed to Ripple Prime and RLUSD as key pillars and said Hidden Road, acquired early this year, is also an important asset linked to the U.S. securities clearing ecosystem.

He suggested the possibility that, over the long term, this could lead to institutional treasury management via Ripple Prime, use of RLUSD as collateral, Chainlink-based interconnection and a payment structure linked to DTCC. He said the decisive factor in the tokenised asset market is the final settlement network, not simple issuance.

On regulation, an analysis said DTCC still has room to experiment. Nisbett claimed DTCC secured no-action relief from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to test some tokenised asset services. He said this created scope to test public blockchains such as Stellar and XRPL in parallel.

He also claimed there were cases in which DTCC patents mentioned cross-chain liquidity compatibility of XRPL and XRP. He also cited that DTCC’s pilot programme is set to run through 2028. Nisbett said this schedule provides stability to continue blockchain integration work regardless of political change.

The market debate continues over whether DTCC’s cooperation with Stellar signals the exclusion of XRP. Based on what has been disclosed so far, however, the prevailing view is that the move is focused more on expanding multi-chain interoperability and digital payment infrastructure than on picking winners and losers among chains.