That leaves me with more questions than answers with regards to DTCC's role in the future of finance. To me, it looks like an archaic, centralized institution that was set up to solve a problem they had in the 1960s with paper securities transfers. Smart contracts didn't exist then, so they weren't even an option. This central clearinghouse concept is going the way of the paper ticker. It has no place in the long term future of finance.
Yes, and they could "technically" build a scalable instantaneous system with a usable API. What prevents any movement in that direction is the messy interconnected web around it. A blockchain isn't going to help with it even if it's a technologically superior solution (it may not be).