Etrading Software (ETS), global provider of technology-led solutions designed for financial institutions and industry initiatives, acting as the selected Registration Authority for the new International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) standard ISO 24165 for Digital Token Identifiers (DTIs), and the Association of National Numbering Agencies, (ANNA), a global member association seeking to foster standardisation within the financial industry and ISO Registration Authority for ISO 6166 International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs), today announce a new joint task force to identify potential synergies between the DTI and ISIN.

The Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF) was created by Etrading Software to provide ISO standard identifiers for digital assets based on open data principles. The task force with ANNA and individual National Numbering Agencies, (NNAs), was established in April and is due to run for 12 months. 

Sassan Danesh, Managing Partner of Etrading Software, said, “Etrading Software is keen to ensure that ISO DTI 24165 will be integrated and seamless with existing industry standards. We want to integrate the DTI with other relevant standards which have different functions but are intrinsically linked. This will reduce the operational complexity and costs of the DTI and provide a clear link between an asset and a digital token that represents the asset.”

Stephan Dreyer, Managing Director of the Association of National Numbering Agencies, said, “The Association of National Numbering Agencies has its own permanent working group on digital assets, and this topic is a core priority of ours. We collaborate with industry and other standards bodies to ensure that standards within our responsibility are harmonized and interoperable with complementary standards, leading to efficient usage and greater accessibility for market participants. In that regard, we are very happy to be working with Etrading Software, the registration authority for the ISO 24165 DTI standard, to look for synergies and interoperability between the ISIN and the DTI.” 

Vipin Y.S. Mahabirsingh, Managing Director of the Central Depository & Settlement Co. Ltd., Mauritius, said, “The work between the DTIF, ANNA and NNAs will provide a solid foundation for the identification of digital tokens as the market continues to grow. By collaborating early on in the process, we will be able to ensure a truly interoperable and complementary nature of the identifiers which will benefit the industry as a whole.”

A key deliverable of the task force will be to produce a set of recommendations on areas of collaboration to the ETS and ANNA boards, including an outline implementation plan. These might include aligning DTIs and ISINs, automatic notifications between issuing authorities or white-label access and/or federated models for the allocation of the identifiers to digital assets. The task force charter, meeting agendas and minutes will be publicly available on the DTIF website: https://dtif.org/anna-ets-dti-task-force/.