⚙️ What is DTCC?

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is a private, for-profit corporation based in the U.S., tasked with clearing and settling the vast majority of trades in equities, bonds, and derivatives. It handles:

• Over $2.5 quadrillion in securities annually
• Almost all transactions for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, etc.

It’s the central clearinghouse and custodian for U.S. stocks.

📌 Key Fact: The DTCC doesn’t own the stocks — it’s the nominee that holds legal title in trust.

🏢 Who Actually Owns the Stocks?

Enter CEDE & Co., a shell corporation:

• It is the nominee name used by DTCC.
• CEDE & Co. holds legal title to almost all publicly traded shares in the U.S.
• Investors (you, funds, pension holders) only have a beneficial interest — not direct title.

🔐 This means: Your broker (like Vanguard, BlackRock, or Fidelity) holds your shares in street name. They don’t register the shares in your name at the company — they are registered to CEDE & Co.

🏦 What About the Federal Reserve?

• The Federal Reserve doesn’t directly own DTCC, but here’s the catch:
  • The DTCC is closely integrated with major banks.
  • Those same banks (e.g., JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup) are primary dealers of the Fed and often owners of the DTCC.
  • The Fed operates within the same banking network — central banking is deeply entangled with private clearing and custody systems.

🧬 So while there’s no “Fed owns DTCC” line on paper, the Federal Reserve System and DTCC are two arms of the same financial-industrial complex, controlled by overlapping private stakeholders.

🔎 Key Structure Summary