Paxos Securities Settlement Company, a subsidiary of blockchain infrastructure firm Paxos, has received SEC registration as a clearing agency under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act. This makes Paxos the only blockchain-native firm approved by the SEC to operate as a central securities depository in the United States. The temporary registration allows the company to provide clearing and settlement services while meeting ongoing regulatory requirements. The milestone caps a seven-year regulatory journey, beginning with a No-Action Letter in 2019 and a settlement pilot program that started in February 2020. The pilot has been clearing and settling U.S. equities daily with participation from top global financial institutions. In 2022, a blockchain-based pilot with State Street achieved same-day settlement (T+0). This registration comes as traditional infrastructure providers like DTCC embrace tokenization. Paxos issues digital assets including PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin and Pax Gold (PAXG). In October 2025, the firm accidentally minted and burned 300 trillion PYUSD tokens due to an internal technical error. Earlier, it received conditional approval to convert to an OCC national trust bank.

Key facts

• Paxos subsidiary registered as SEC clearing agency under Section 17A.
• First blockchain-native firm to operate as US central securities depository.
• Seven-year regulatory process including 2019 No-Action Letter and pilot since 2020.
• Pilot achieved same-day settlement (T+0) with State Street in 2022.
• Paxos also issues PYUSD stablecoin and suffered a trillion-token mint error in 2025.

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