ANNA ISINs, and The Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF) have entered a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The MOU will allow the phased introduction of new ISINs to identify crypto assets.
The initiative looks to further optimise and automate more comprehensive data sets within both ISO standard registries.
The two identifiers will work together to bring more transparency to the market. Where the ISIN identifies the asset, the digital token identifier (DTI) identifies the implementation of the token on a distributed ledger technology.
Under the MoU, those DTIs included in the DTI register can be issued an ISIN at ANNA’s discretion. This integration will reduce operational complexity and industry costs and provide a clear link between an asset and a digital token that relates to the asset.
The MoU comes two years after the initiation of a joint task force, established in April 2021. The task force was set up to ensure a complementary relationship between the ISO 6166 ISIN and ISO 24165 DTI standards.
The task force has progressed to introduce ISINs assigned by ANNA which are recognised by a new XT ISIN prefix. These are based on DTIs for crypto assets that are not themselves financial instruments.
ANNA’s National Numbering Agencies (NNAs), has issued ISINs for financial and referential instruments for more than 30 years, including ISINs for a number of security tokens.
Stephan Dreyer, managing director for ANNA, comments: "As the financial markets evolve, ANNA continues to work hard to ensure that ISIN remains fit for purpose and interoperable. This is an opportunity to synergise with the DTIF's DTI to provide industry with complementary standards, providing even greater transparency."
Denis Dounaev, DTI product owner at DTIF, adds: "By embedding the DTI code within the ISIN code, market participants and public authorities get the best of both worlds: the ability to identify the digital asset via the ISIN, and the individual blockchain implementations of the asset via the DTI registry."
