GDF, ANNA, and DTI Foundation announce partnership to support the development of standards and best practices in the digital asset industry

New York, London, Brussels, June 20, 2024: Global Digital Finance (GDF), the global members association and platform for open innovation in digital assets in financial services, announces a partnership with the Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a global member association seeking to foster standardization within the financial industry, and the Digital Token Identifier (DTI) Foundation whose combined mandate is to increase transparency in the digital asset space by creating a core reference data set based on open data principles and made available as a public good. 

As the digital asset sector grows, it is crucial that standardized identification data is available that seamlessly blends digital asset standards with conventional financial systems. 

Partnering with ANNA and DTIF is true to GDF’s mission of promoting and underpinning the greater adoption of market standards for the use of crypto and digital assets, and GDF looks
forward to continued engagement with both organizations to better advocate and accelerate the adoption of best practices for digital assets.

Background:  In 2021, a joint ANNA-DTIF Task Force was established to ensure a complementary relationship between the International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) and Digital Token Identifier (DTI) ISO standards. This alliance supports a growing digital asset sector with complementary identifiers that foster market transparency and interoperability. In 2023, the Task Force has progressed to introduce new innovative ISINs assigned by ANNA which are recognized by a new XT ISIN prefix. These are based on DTIs for digital assets that are not themselves financial instruments. 

The ISO DTI standard for digital token identification continues to be adopted by crypto and digital asset market infrastructure and service providers and regulators. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is anticipated to embed DTIs as the crypto-asset identifier under MiCA transparency reporting, order book, offering and record-keeping requirements. The ISO ISIN standard is already required by ESMA for reporting for MiFID II regulated financial instruments which would include tokenized securities.

As the world’s largest open innovation platform supporting the development of best practices for the digital asset industry, GDF is delighted to strategically partner with ANNA and DTI Foundation to help drive awareness and adoption of market standards that help build stronger, transparent, and more efficient bridges between traditional finance and the digital asset ecosystem.

Madeleine Boys, GDF Head of Programmes and Innovation says, “Standards are key to unlocking efficiencies and driving transparency in financial markets. For regulators, global identification standards help bring consistency and transparency into new DLT markets. For market participants, this standard supports better effective risk management and has been commended by industry as a strong foundation for better interlinking digital finance and traditional finance.”

Commenting on the partnership, Stephan Dreyer, Managing Director at ANNA says, “Since launch last year, the ANNA/DTI Foundation partnership has significantly progressed the introduction of new International Identification Securities Numbers (ISIN) to identify crypto assets to support industry transparency and interoperability. We are now delighted to be working with Global Digital Finance (GDF) to facilitate greater integration within wider industry communities.

Denis Dounaev, DTIF Product Owner adds, “This partnership marks a significant milestone in our mission to increase transparency and standardization within the digital asset space. By aligning our efforts with ANNA and GDF, we are ensuring that digital assets are seamlessly integrated into the traditional financial system while also fostering greater trust and adoption of digital assets globally.”

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About GDF 
Global Digital Finance (GDF) is a global non-profit association of member firms offering an open innovation platform for advocating and accelerating the adoption of best practices for digital assets. 

GDF’s mission is to “Promote and underpin the greater adoption of market standards for the use of crypto and digital assets, through the development of best practices and governance standards in a shared engagement forum with industry, policymakers, and regulators.”

For more information about GDF contact: madeleine@gdf.io

About ANNA
The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) is a global member association of National Numbering Agencies (NNAs) seeking to foster standardisation within the financial industry by upholding the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) principles and by promoting ISIN, FISN and CFI codes for financial instruments. This is done through ongoing, collaborative work with market participants, regulators and other standards bodies.

For more information about ANNA contact: stephan.dreyer@anna-web.org

About DTI Foundation
The Digital Token Identifier (DTI) Foundation is a non-profit division of Etrading Software (ETS), a global regulatory data provider with a focus on solving market-wide problems by building market infrastructures for the new digital economy. DTI Foundation’s mission is to provide the golden source reference data for the unique identification of digital tokens based on ISO’s new standard for digital assets, ISO 24165. The DTI Foundation has already issued ISO identification codes for over two thousand of the most commonly traded digital assets, with more codes being added each day. All commonly traded digital assets can be assigned ISO-standard DTI codes. For more information about DTI Foundation contact: denis.dounaev@dtif.org

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