About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

ESMA Recommends Digital Token Identifier for Pilot of Distributed Ledger Technology Regulation

Subscribe to our newsletter

ESMA has recommended use of the ISO standard Digital Token Identifier (DTI) for the pilot of its Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) regulatory regimen. DTIs are issued by the DTI Foundation, a non-profit division of Etrading Software, with a view to bringing standardisation to digital asset and crypto markets.

The DLT pilot will apply from 23 March 2023, extending the EU’s MiFIR reporting regime to cover tokenised financial instruments, and bringing pre- and post-trade transparency and market abuse monitoring to DLT-based securities.

The DTI Foundation issued its first official DTI codes back in November 2021 and has since gone on to issue the identifiers for over a thousand of the most commonly traded digital assets, with more codes being added every day.

Jim Northey, chair of ISO TC68 Financial Services, says: “The ISO 24165 DTI standard has been designed to work well with existing ISO standards that are used for regulatory reporting. The DTI simplifies the addition of digital asset trading and reporting into existing systems.”

Sassan Danesh, CEO of Etrading Software, comments: “Our mission is to increase market stability, transparency and efficiency in the digital asset space and we will continue to work with public authorities and industry to provide this service to the benefit of all stakeholders.”

The DTI is designed to help market participants and public authorities unambiguously identify digital assets and DLTs using ISO standards. The identifier enables EU regulators to monitor digital asset trades for anti-money laundering and combating terrorist financing requirements, as well as systemic risks arising from trading of stable-coins and other digital assets. For financial institutions, the DTI provides the ability to monitor market data for tokenised securities using globally standardised reference data.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Navigating a Complex World: Best Data Practices in Sanctions Screening

As rising geopolitical uncertainty prompts an intensification in the complexity and volume of global economic and financial sanctions, banks and financial institutions are faced with a daunting set of new compliance challenges. The risk of inadvertently engaging with sanctioned securities has never been higher and the penalties for doing so are harsh. Traditional sanctions screening...

BLOG

Leaving Money on the Table: Busting the Myths of North American Securities Class Action Claims for European Investors

North American securities class actions, particularly within the United States, represent one of the most developed frameworks globally for shareholder redress. Operating on an opt-out basis, this passive participation model automatically includes eligible investors, including those based in Europe, allowing them to obtain compensation without initiating litigation. Despite the fact that billions of dollars are...

EVENT

Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference, London, hosted by A-Team Group

Now in its 8th year, the Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference managed by A-Team Group, is the premier content forum and networking event for investment firms and hedge funds.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2026

AI adoption in capital markets has moved into a more disciplined phase. The priority is now controlled deployment: where AI can be used safely, where it can deliver measurable value, and how outputs can be governed, monitored and evidenced. The 2026 edition of the AI in Capital Markets Handbook examines how AI is being applied...