Digital Securities Depository

Connecting traditional and digital assets through trusted infrastructure

LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository (DSD) enables the issuance, distribution, settlement, and lifecycle management of digital securities.

Get in touch
  1. Overview
  2. How it works
  3. News & updates
  4. FAQs
Get in touch

Introducing DSD

Digital Securities Depository (DSD) is LSEG's market infrastructure solution designed to support the issuance, settlement, and lifecycle management of digital securities within a trusted and regulated market environment.

Built for institutional markets, DSD supports digital securities across their lifecycle while helping organisations operate within existing market infrastructure environments.

How DSD Works

  1. 1

    The DSD creates and maintains the authoritative digital securities register, capturing the reference and economic data associated with a security and establishing the legal ownership record required to support settlement, ownership transfers and lifecycle event management within a trusted, regulated market infrastructure environment.

  2. 2

    The DSD supports the issuance of digital securities and their distribution to the market. Securities are created on the authoritative register and allocated to LSEG DSD participants, establishing the initial legal ownership positions. 

  3. 3

    The DSD supports post-issuance activity by settling transactions and updating the authoritative ownership register. Following transactions agreed either OTC or on connected trading venues, transfers of digital securities between participants can be settled in real time and recorded on the register. 

  4. 4

    The DSD supports the processing of lifecycle events throughout the life of a digital security. Asset servicing activities such as interest payments, dividend distributions, redemptions and corporate actions are managed through automated workflows, with reporting made available to relevant participants. 

Supporting the digital securities lifecycle

LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository (DSD) supports the issuance, settlement and lifecycle management of digital securities, helping institutions connect digital asset workflows with existing capital markets infrastructure.

Issuance and Primary Distribution

Create and distribute digital securities

  • Digital issuance workflows
  • Investor distribution capabilities
  • Trusted market infrastructure

Settlement

Support flexible settlement models

  • Atomic transfer and settlement of digital securities
  • Near real-time settlement and ownership updates

Lifecycle management

Manage servicing and ownership of digital securities

  • Ownership management
  • Corporate actions and lifecycle events
  • Automated asset servicing
  • Reporting and notifications

Interoperability

Support interoperability between chains and with traditional market infrastructure

  • Digital and traditional market workflows 
  • Integration with existing market infrastructure
  • Broader market participation

Built for market participants

Issuers

Access existing and new investors through digital issuance, distribution and lifecycle management.

Investors

Access digital securities with flexible settlement models and enhanced collateral efficiency.

Custodians

Extend servicing capabilities across traditional and digital markets.

Banks & Dealers

Support issuance, settlement and post-trade workflows with greater efficiency.

Issuing & Paying Agents

Facilitate issuance and servicing activities through interoperable digital infrastructure.

CSDs & DSDs

Connect traditional and digital securities infrastructure through interoperable workflows.

News & updates

Stay up to date with the latest developments from LSEG’s Digital Securities Depository.

Press release

LSEG advances next generation of Digital Markets Infrastructure with on-chain settlement

The LSEG DSD, a market infrastructure solution for institutional market participants, will be fully interoperable, connecting traditional and digital markets, supporting multiple chains, and seamless interaction between existing settlement platforms and emerging digital infrastructures.

Read the press release

Market update

UK Government provides update on the Digital Gilt Instrument (DIGIT) pilot

The UK Government has confirmed the next phase of the DIGIT initiative, supporting the development and adoption of digital securities and next-generation market infrastructure.

Read the update

Press release

London Stock Exchange to launch UK tokenised equity structures

London Stock Exchange has announced plans to launch UK tokenised equity structures and explore tokenised public equity markets with Payward, supporting the evolution of digital capital markets.

Read the announcement

Frequently asked questions

  •  
    DSD is infrastructure that supports the issuance, settlement and lifecycle management of digital securities within a trusted and regulated market environment.

  • We see increasing demand from issuers and investors for more efficient, transparent, and integrated digital market infrastructure. The DSD supports LSEG’s strategy to modernise financial markets and enable digital securities within a regulated ecosystem.

    Using the benefits of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), we will be bringing liquidity and usability for tokenised securities by connecting with traditional Over the Counter (OTC) markets, trading venues and enabling collateral mobility across markets.

  • DSD is designed to bridge the traditional and digital financial ecosystems, delivering true fungibility between digital and traditional assets across their full lifecycle.

    Unlike many market solutions that operate in isolated digital environments, the DSD focuses on ensuring assets retain utility, liquidity and usability by enabling them to move seamlessly between traditional and digital markets. This allows participants to access broader pools of liquidity and maximise asset use across multiple market infrastructures.

  • Key participants in the DSD ecosystem will include issuers, custodians, investors, financial institutions and agents such as issuing agents, and paying agents among others. Furthermore, the DSD will be connecting to other market infrastructures, trading venues and technology providers.

  • DSD is designed to support a broad range of asset classes, initially focusing on fixed income instruments. Over time, DSD is expected to support additional asset classes as market demand, use cases and regulatory frameworks evolve.

  • Organisations can contact LSEG to learn more about participation, onboarding and early digital securities use cases.

Disclaimer

LSEG B3 Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) of the United Kingdom.

This webpage contains information with LSEG B3 Limited or its group undertakings (“LSEG”) and is provided for general information purposes only. LSEG attempts to ensure the information is accurate, however, the information is provided “AS IS” and on an “AS AVAILABLE” basis and may not be accurate or up to date. The information does not constitute legal, financial, investment or other professional advice, and no responsibility or liability is accepted by or on behalf of LSEG for any errors, omissions or inaccurate information in this webpage or in respect of any action taken on the basis of the information. 

Get in touch

Contact sales

By submitting this form, you agree to your personal data being shared within the London Stock Exchange Group of companies (LSEG) for the purpose of receiving communications via post, phone and electronic means from LSEG about event, resources, products, and/or services.

For more information on how LSEG uses your data, see our privacy statement. You can adjust your preferences at any time through the preference link in any electronic communication that you receive from us.

Help & Support

Already a customer?

Get help by email