Within the framework of the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO), a working group (WG3) was established in early 2018 to specifically evaluate the identification needs for digital currencies and whether an existing framework could be leveraged such as the ISO 4217 Currency Code standard.

During the first stages of discussion, it was determined that identification for digital assets did not fit the existing definition or scope of the ISO 4217 currency code standard, and development was required for an identification registry based on the specific characteristics of digital assets.

To complement the efforts of the WG3, ANNA set up a Technology Taskforce (TF-22) to assess the role that International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs) may take in the harmonisation of standards for identifying digital assets.

The Taskforce has been examining the identification of digital assets such as tokens and cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and its associated evolution and application in the financial markets industry.

The Taskforce has been assessing the role and scope of ISINs in respect to digital asset identification and provide recommendations and guidelines for the assignment of ISINs to all kinds of digital assets e.g. security tokens, asset tokens, payment tokens, utility tokens and hybrid tokens.

The Taskforce’s evaluation process on digital assets has been an important part of the journey to provide tools of most use to the industry.

ANNA is now creating the XT-ISIN, with a core aim to support a transparent, compliant and efficient financial market structure.  To date, over 1600 DTIs have been issued. Now the Task Force has progressed to introduce referential ISINs based on the DTIs, recognised by a new XT ISIN prefix.