Technical Standards
Technical Standards
| Entity | Link | Global (1) or Regional (2) Standards Setter (S), Association (A), or Regulatory Affiliation (R) | Geography of Origin | Purpose & Blockchain Focus | Proposed Outcome 1* | Proposed Outcome 2* | Proposed Outcome 3* | Topic ** | Industry Focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American National Standards Institute (ANSI) | https://ansi.org/ | S2 | United States | The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) oversees standards conformity and assessment activities in the United States. On an ongoing basis, it follows blockchain standards developments and produces recommendations for further standards in the space. | Technical | Blockchain technology; artificial intelligence; supply chains | All industries | ||
| Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM) | https://www.theadam.io/ | A2 | United States | The Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM) is a private, non-profit, membership-based association of firms operating in the digital asset markets. ADAM considers itself a “self-governing association.” It has released a code of conduct intended to inform market participants on best practices and to complement, not replace, existing regulation, part of a long-term effort to define and promote ethical conduct by all digital asset market participants. | Conduct/Governance | Compliance and risk management; market ethics; conflicts of interest; transparency and fairness; market integrity; custody; information security and business continuity; anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism | Digital asset markets | ||
| Association for Supply Chain Management | A2 | United States | The Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) is the largest non-profit association for supply chain organizational transformation, innovation, and leadership. It has developed training on supply chain innovation covering blockchain technology, through case studies from globally recognized organizations covering ways to streamline and improve operational performance using key technologies, bolster reliability and advance processes by proposing new solutions, minimize security threats and effectively evaluate the benefits and risks of various supply chain technologies, and make informed and reliable decisions directly affecting overall supply chain performance. This covers how blockchain and other emerging technologies can support and improve operations within the supply chain industry. | Conduct/Governance | Blockchain technology; supply chain | Supply chain | |||
| Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA) | https://anna-web.org/anna-announce-a-technology-taskforce-on-digital-assets/ | A1 | Global | The Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a global member association seeking to foster standardisation within the financial industry by upholding the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) principles and by promoting International Securities Identification Numbers, ISINs, and Classification of Financial Instrument codes, CFIs, and Financial Instrument Short Names, FISN, for financial instruments, announce a new Technology Taskforce (TF-22) on Digital Assets. This initiative has been created to help examine how ISINs may be able to help identify possible harmonisation of standards. ANNA’s Technology Task Force (TF-22) will examine the identification of digital assets such as tokens and cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology and its’ associated evolution and application in the financial markets industry. This, with the objective to assess the role and scope of ISINs in respect to digital asset identification and provide recommendations on the potential benefits of creating guidelines for the assignment of ISINs to all kinds of digital assets e.g. asset tokens, payment tokens, utility tokens and hybrid tokens. Underpinning this evaluation is ANNA’s core aim to support a transparent, compliant and efficient financial markets structure. | Technical | Financial services, financial instruments, digital assets, tokens, cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology | Financial industry | ||
| Baseline Protocol | https://docs.baseline-protocol.org/ | A1 | Global | The Baseline Protocol is an open-source initiative that combines advances in cryptography, messaging, and blockchain to execute secure and private business processes at low cost via the public Ethereum Mainnet. The protocol will enable confidential and complex collaboration between enterprises without leaving any sensitive data on-chain. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Data; Tokens; Security; Zero Knowledge Proofs (Cryptography) | Open source protocols | |
| Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) | https://bitastandardscouncil.org/ | A1/S2 | United States | The Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BiTA) Standards Council is seeking to develop and embrace a common framework and standards from which transport, logistics, and supply-chain participants can build blockchain applications. It is a collaborative effort among representatives of the commerce ecosystem (carriers, suppliers, shippers, customers and other stakeholders) to develop the pro-competitive, open source, and royalty-free standards for blockchain/web3 implementations that will maximize the efficiency of the global supply chain for the benefit of all. | Conduct/Governance | Interoperability; blockchain and web3 requirements; global supply chains | Transport and commerce ecosystem | ||
| Blockchain Industry Group (BIG) | https://blockchainindustrygroup.org/ | A2 | United States | The Blockchain Industry Group (BIG) is dedicated to the advancement and adoption of blockchain technologies through the development and promotion of blockchain standards, education, certifications and collaboration. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | DLT requirements; Governance; Education | Blockchain technology | |
| British Blockchain Association (BBA) | https://britishblockchainassociation.org/ | A2 | United Kingdom | The British Blockchain Association (BBA) is a not-for-profit organization that promotes the adoption of Evidence-Based Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) across public and private sectors. The BBA is home to the UK’s National Blockchain Roadmap VISION 2030, UK’s DLT Excellence Standards Framework, Centre for Evidence Based Blockchain (CEBB), The Journal of the British Blockchain Association (JBBA), Blockchain Associations Forum (BAF), Student Forum (BBA SF) and the Industry Advisory Think-Tank. | Conduct/Governance | Blockchian applications | UK blockchian ecosystem | ||
| British Standards Institution (BSI) | https://britishblockchainassociation.org/ | S2 | United Kingdom | The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the national standards body of the United Kingdom. It aims to share knowledge, innovation, and methodologies to help people and organizations make excellence a habit. BSI provides support to clients on blockchian project requirements to assist in leveraging the benefits of this technology. It is part of the ISO technical committee TC307 initiative globally, which focuses on blockchain and distributed ledger technologies. | Regulatory | DLT Requirements | All industries | ||
| China Communications Standards Association (CCSA) | https://www.ccsa.org.cn/english/ | S2 | China | The China Communications Standards Association (CCSA), founded by the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry, is a Chinese professional standards organization responsible for developing communications technology standards. For blockchain, the most notable developments include: 1. Blockchain Innovation and Intellectual Property Development White Paper, which includes 33 blockchain standards. 2. Financial Distributed Ledger Technology Application Guideline, which is the first financial blockchain international standard project led by China. It was approved in 2020. China wants to apply this standard as a framework to contribute to the planning and layout of the financial blockchain international standards system, as well as create sub-standards such as reference frames, risk control, security and privacy protection, and financial blockchain business specifications in various fields. | Technical | Regulatory | Communication Technology | Telecommunications | |
| China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) | https://csa-iot.org/member/china-electronics-standardization-institute/ | S2 | China | The China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI), which operates under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, works with standardization, conformity assessment and measurement activities in the field of electronics and information technologies. In the past couple of years, CESI has released a vision to introduce three blockchain standards on smart contracts, privacy and deposits in a bid to better guide the development of the blockchain industry in the country. CESI released a White Paper on the Integration and Development of Blockchain and Industrial Internet on October 19, 2021. According to the "Made in China 2025" national strategic plan and the current development of industrial blockchain in China, the White Paper aims to accelerate the adoption of industrial blockchain applications by making a standard system for industrial blockchain in China. | Regulatory | Tokens; Security; smart contracts; privacy; deposits | Electronics and information technology | ||
| China Food Association - Standardization Technical Committee | S2 | China | The Standardization Technical Committee of the China Food Association is responsible for verifying all drafted standards and making development strategies for the China Food Association, which is tasked to ensure food safety in China. It updated management requirements for blockcain applications for food traceability (under released). | Conduct/Governance | Regulatory | Food traceability | Food | ||
| COALA | https://coala.global/home-2-2/about-us/ | A1 | Global | COALA is a unique, collaborative, global and multidisciplinary community that brings together individual experts in the decentralized ecosystem to explore the implications and deployment of blockchain technologies at the nexus of our evolving social and economic order in the 21st century. Working groups are composed of leading academics, lawyers, economists, protocol architects, technologists, and entrepreneurs. Experts in the COALA community cross-pollinate and collaboratively work on the deployment of blockchain-based legal and technical frameworks, standards and applications alongside governance policies that enable innovation and evolution of systems and networks for social good. | Technical | Regulatory | Blockchain-based legal and technical frameworks, standards, and applications; Legality; decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs); governance; identity & privacy; intellectual property; regulation technoloy; ethics; smart contracts; crypto-equity | Blockchain technology | |
| Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) | https://coala.global/home-2-2/about-us/ | A1 | United States | The focus of the Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF) is to bring together stakeholders to create a new identity ecosystem. DIF aims to develop the foundational components of an open, standards-based, decentralized identity ecosystem for people, organizations, apps, and devices. Blockchain technology and distributed ledgers are a key element to enable ways for people, organizations, and devices to be identified and located without centralized systems of identifiers (e.g. email addresses). DIF members are actively working on protocols and implementations that enable creation, resolution, and discovery of decentralized identifiers and names across decentralized systems, like blockchains and distributed ledgers. | Technical | Identity, credentials, authentication, secure data storage | Decentralized identity ecosystem | ||
| DFM Data Corp. (DFMDC) | https://dfmdata.com/ | A2/S1 | United States | Dynamic Freight Management (DFM) Data Corp. (DFMDC) is a clearinghouse for the freight ecosystem. DFMDC’s technology platform harmoniously synchronizes ISO-standardized data through a proprietary information exchange with ISO 8000-119. DFMDC deploys a semantic data layer that allows hundreds of siloed technologies to communicate milestone freight status updates with one another. As an early player in advancing enterprise uses of blochchain, DFMDC is becoming an engine of choice for federal governments, and as such is advancing a ubiquitous form of identity that encompasses each unit as a form of data. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Data; freight status updates; transport unit identifiers | Freight ecosystem | |
| Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) | https://dfmdata.com/ | S1 | Netherlands | The Digital Container Shipping Association (DCSA) was created to develop vendor-neutral and technology-agnostic standards that facilitate the interoperability of information technology solutions across the container shipping industry and foster non-competitive business practices. It has developed standards for electronic bills of lading using blockchain. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Cross-technology interoperability; information technology; non-competitive business practices | Container shipping industry | |
| Digital Token Identifier Foundation (DTIF) | https://dartech.jwgevents.org/sponsor/dtif-digital-token-identifier-foundation/ | S1 | England | The DTI Foundation (DTIF) is a nonprofit organization established by Etrading Software. As the Registration Authority (RA) for the new International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) standard ISO 24165 for Digital Token Identifiers (DTIs), the DTIF has the exclusive global mandate to issue DTIs to support industry and regulatory requirements for transparency and reduced operational risk. The DTI caters for identification of digital assets and includes representation of tokenized financial instruments, e-money tokens as well as other digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, utility tokens, stablecoins, etc. DTIF promotes standards for digital assets in order to provide the building blocks for a well-regulated marketplace. The DTI enables market institutions to utilise ISO standards to assist with their preparations for regulatory compliance. | Technical | Regulatory | Digital assets, tokenized financial instruments, e-money tokens, cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, utility tokens, stablecoins, marketplaces | Digital token identifiers | |
| Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) | https://entethalliance.org/ | A1 | United States | The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) builds, promotes and broadly supports Ethereum-based technology methodologies, standards and a reference architecture. The objective is to put Ethereum to work for today's business. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Interoperability; security; cross chain, NIST-compatible Ethereum; enterprise applications | Enterprise ethereum ecosystem | |
| Ethereum Project | https://ethereum.org/en/ | S1 | Switzerland | The Ethereum community has developed a range of standards to ensure interoperability across implementations, as well as composability of decentralized applications and smart contracts, including token standards. Most smart contracts are currently built on Ethereum, and the most common token standards include ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-777, and ERC-1155. | Technical | Smart contracts, tokenization, decentralized applications (dApps), interoperability | Open source projects in the Ethereum community | ||
| European Blockchain Association (EBA) | https://europeanblockchainassociation.org/ | A2 | Germany | The European Blockchain Association (EBA) serves as a neutral body to aggregate and coordinate blockchain activities throughout Europe and to provide Non-European parties with a direct API into the European blockchain ecosystem. The objective is to empower the European blockchain ecosystem by supporting blockchain-related activities of European corporations, startups, venture capitalists, and scientific institutes. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Blockchain applications | European blockchain ecosystem | |
| European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) | https://www.cencenelec.eu/about-cenelec/ | S2 | Belgium | The European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC) prepares voluntary standards in the electrotechnical field, which help facilitate trade between countries, create new markets, cut compliance costs and support the development of a Single European Market. | Regulatory | Trade; single European market; Electromagnetic compatibility; accumulators; primary cells and primary batteries; insulated wire and cable; Electrical equipment and apparatus; Electronic, electromechanical and electrotechnical supplies; Electric motors and transformers; Lighting equipment and electric lamps; Low Voltage electrical installations material; Electric vehicles railways; smart grid; smart metering; solar (photovoltaic) electricity systems | Electrotechical field in Europe | ||
| European Committee for Standardization (CEN) | https://www.cencenelec.eu/about-cen/ | S2 | Belgium | The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) provides a platform for the development of European standards and other technical documents in relation to various products, materials, services and processes. | Regulatory | Defense & Security, Quantum Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Smart Grids, Environment and Sustainability, Cybersecurity, Digital Society, | Technical field in Europe | ||
| European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) | https://www.etsi.org/ | A1/S1 | France | The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) provides the opportunities, resources and platforms to understand, shape, drive and collaborate on globally applicable standards that can promote interoperability, security, and competitive advantage. It has formed an industry specification group on blockchain in 2018, Permissioned Digital Ledger, which has published reports on topics including smart contract specifications and requirements, data management, and interoperability. A recent body has been set up to focus on medical devices using blockchain technology. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Permissioned distributed ledgers; smart contracts; data; interoperability; healthcare; I0T | Telecommunications; ICT systems across all sectors of industry and society | |
| GBBC Digital Finance (GDF) | https://www.gdf.io/ | A1 | Switzerland | GBBC Digital Finance (GDF) is an industry membership body that promotes the adoption of best practices for cryptoassets and digital finance technologies, through the development of conduct standards, in a shared engagement forum with market participants, policymakers and regulators. GDF merged with the Gloal Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) in 2022. | Conduct/Governance | Regulatory | DLT requirements; taxonomy; custody; Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG); stablecoins; market integrity; tokens and token issuance; funds; regulation; sanctions; know-your-customer (KYC)/anti-money laundering/countering terrorism financing (KYC/AML/CTF); tax treatment; decentralized finance (DeFi); private markets; digital currency; security tokens; trading platforms; interVASP (virtual asset trading platform) messaging standards; registration; rating websites; global financial institutions | Finance & digital assets | |
| Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association (DCA) | https://global-dca.org/ | A1 | United States | The Global Digital Asset & Cryptocurrency Association (DCA) is a global self-regulatory association for the digital asset & cryptocurrency industry. It was established to guide the evolution of digital assets, cryptocurrencies, and the underlying blockchain technology within a regulatory framework designed to build public trust, foster market integrity and maximize economic opportunity for all participants. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Regulatory | Digital assets; cryptocurrencies; blockchain | Digital asset and cryptocurrency industry |
| Global Standards for Business Communication (GS1) | https://www.gs1.org/ | A1/S1 | Belgium | GS1 develops global standards for business communication, allowing entities to identify, capture, and share information smoothly through a common language. Best known for the barcode, GS1 aims with its standards to improve the efficiency, safety and visibility of supply chains across physical and digital channels. Blockchain technology is covered in certain standards, with the objective to improve interoperability and data quality. GS1 reporting recommends the use of existing data standards for enterprise blockchain implementations. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Data; traceability; supply chains; enterprise blockchain | Identification and structured data for business communication | |
| Government Blockchain Association (GBA) | https://gbaglobal.org/ | A2 | United States | The Government Blockchain Association (GBA) brings together people and organizations with blockchain-based solutions to problems that are traditionally addressed by government entities. It provides educational and networking opportunities focused on blockchain adoption, as well as resources for development and deployment. It facilitates collaborative workflows between technologists, public policymakers, and application specialists. | Conduct/Governance | Blockchain adoption; education; smart cities; governance/legal/reg/compliance; digital economy; sciences/healthcare/tech | Blockchain ecosystem | ||
| Hyperledger Foundation | https://es.hyperledger.org/ | A1 | United States | Hyperledger, hosted by the Linux Foundation, is an open-source community focused on developing a suite of stable frameworks, tools and libraries for enterprise grade blockchain deployments. It serves as a neutral home for various distributed ledger frameworks including Hyperledger Besu, Burrow, Fabric, Sawtooth, Iroha, and Indy, as well as tools such as Hyperledger Caliper and libraries such as Hyperledger Ursa. The objective is to advance cross-industry blockchain technologies. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Interoperability; tokens; enterprise grade blockchain deployments | Enterprise frameworks and tools for blockchain | |
| Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) | https://blockchain.ieee.org/ | A1/S1 | United States | The purpose of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a professional association for electronic and electrical engineering. IEEE promotes the development and application of electrotechnology and allied sciences for the benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession and the well-being of its members. The IEEE Blockchain Initiative is designed as a hub for all blockchain activities within IEEE, which include conferences, educational materials and publications, and standards. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Internet of things (IoT); cryptocurrency exchange and payment; tokens; energy; digital assets - Blockchain in Healthcare (IEEE P2418.6) - Agriculture (IEEE P2418.3) - Blockchain Governance (IEEE P2145 & IEEE P3212) - Smart Legal Contracts (IEEE P2963) | Electrotechnology and allied sciences; electronic and electrical engineering | |
| Institute of International Finance (IIF) - Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) | https://www.iif.com/tsvcm | S1 | Global | The Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets (TSVCM) is a private sector-led initiative working to scale an effective and efficient voluntary carbon market to help meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. It is led by the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The Taskforce’s unique value proposition is to bring all parts of the value chain to work intensively together and to provide recommended actions for the most pressing pain-points facing voluntary carbon markets, bringing credit level integrity in voluntary markets. TSVCM has recognized the role of blockchain to increase the integrity of carbon markets, make offset markets more efficient, facilitate increased access and therefore demand, unlock supply, and clarify the relationship between voluntary and compliance carbon markets. | Regulatory | Core Carbon Principles (CCPs), voluntary carbon markets; credit level integrity, legal principles & contracts | Voluntary carbon markets | ||
| International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INTABA) | https://inatba.org/ | A2 | Belgium | The Inernational Assc for Trusted Blockchain Applications (INTABA) serves as the bridge between public and private entities in the blockchain ecosystem. It facilitates ongoing constructive dialogue between public and private developers/users with regulators and policymakers, to ultimately foster global convergence of regulatory approaches. It promotes blockchain adoption across diverse fields including law, finance, and education | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Blockchain adoption; law; finance; education | Blockchain ecosystem | |
| International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) | https://www.dsi.iccwbo.org/ | A1 | France | The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is a global business organization with the objective of making business work for everyone, enabling business to secure peace, prosperity, and opportunity for all. It launched the Digital Standards Initiative (DSI) to enable interoperability between blockchain and other technology platforms in the global trade space. The Digital Trade Standards Initiative covers blockchain to support a globally harmonized digital trade environment. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Digital trade; interoperability | Global digital trade | |
| International Digital Asset Exchange Association (IDAXA) | https://www.idaxa.org/ | A2 | United Kingdom | The International Digital Asset Exchange Association (IDAXA) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, academia, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the the Virtual Assets world and issues that surround it. IDAXA represents the consensus voice of the industry without any favor to any individual corporate interest. Commissioning Independent Working Groups that produce reports with both findings and policy prescriptions on the most important Virtual Assets topics. | Conduct/Governance | Virtual asset topics; Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule; sharing of originator and beneficiary information on transactions | Virtual assets and surrounding issues | ||
| International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) | https://www.iec.ch/homepage | S1 | Switzerland | The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) promotes quality infrastructure and international trade in electrical and electronic goods, with the ultimate goal of promoting safety and efficiency. It launched a study group in collaboration with ISO/TC 307 to standardize blockchain. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Internet of things (IoT), Infrastructure Development, Sustainable energy | Electrical and electronic goods; Energy | |
| International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) | https://www.ieta.org/ | S1 | Canada | International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) is a nonprofit business organization to establish an international framework to support the trade of greenhouse gas emission reductions. Its emissions trading regime is designed to foster real and verifiable emission reductions, with both economic efficiency adn environmental and social responsibility. It currently focuses on advocating for markets to effectively price carbon and deliver net-zero targets to meet the Paris Agreement's goals for climate protection. IETA has formed a task group on digital climate markets that contemplates the increasing role of blockchain and tokens, as digital twins of issued carbon credits, which must be permanently removed from circulation once the underlying carbon credits are retired. It has drafted guidelines around the use of blockchain in voluntary carbon markets. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | DLT requriements; tokens; voluntary carbon markets | Emissions reductions | |
| International Organization for Standardization (ISO) | https://www.iso.org/committee/6266604/x/catalogue/ | S1 | Switzerland | The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety and efficiency of products, services, and systems. The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI) has covered the topics of digital currencies, interoperability (between blockchain and DLT systems and overall), foundations, security/privacy/identity, smart contracts and applications, governance, use cases, within ISO/TC 307. ISO-14064 also covers blockchain topics. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Security; privacy; identity; governance; smart contracts; digital currencies; interoperability; foundations; applications | International quality standards | |
| International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) - Common Domain Model (CDM) | https://www.isda.org/2019/10/14/isda-common-domain-model/ | A1/S1 | United States | The ISDA Common Domain Model (ISDA CDM) is a machine-readable and machine-executable data model for derivatives products, processes, and calculations. The objective is to standardize how derivatives are traded and managed through their lifecycle, reducing costs associated with current manual processes especially in trade affirmation and trade management, collateral management, regulatory reporting, reconciliations, exercises and settlements, portfolio compression, and novation and transfers. ISDA CDM is provided in several languages to aid deployment on many new and existing technology platforms. ISDA CDM addresses the inefficiencies and costs of the current derivatives infrastructure, where each firm and platform uses its own unique set of representations for events and processes over the life of trades. This standard proposes restructuring the foundations of this market, enabling a way to implement scalable automated solutions with greater efficiency and less cost. Effective automation can only be built on standardization. CDM is a common standard for back-office processes that leverages emerging technology. | Technical | Regulatory | Swaps; Derivatives; Financial Infrastructure | Financial Services | |
| International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunications Standardization Sector (ITU-T) | https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Pages/default.aspx | S1 | Switzerland | The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT). Within the ITU, the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) ensures the efficient and timely production of standards covering all fields of telecommunications and information communication technology (ICTs) on a worldwide basis, and defines tariff and accounting principles for international telecommunication services. The focus group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology was established in 2017. | Conduct/Governance | Security; IoT; identity; DLT requirements; mobile payment security; digital financial inclusion; digital assets including digital currency; | Telecommunications | ||
| International Token Standardization Association (ITSA) | https://my.itsa.global/ | S1 | Germany | The International Token Standardization Association (ITSA) developed the International Token Identification Number (ITIN), which focuses on establishing an open market standard to identify cryptographic tokens. Its standard framework International Token Classification (ITC) categorizes cryptographic tokens based on their inherent characteristics and assigns them identifiers. In addition, ITSA also developed the International Token Database (TOKENBASE), which sets a standard for qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze these tokens. | Technical | Tokens | Standards for cryptographic tokens | ||
| Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) | https://www.ietf.org/ | A2 | United States | The purpose of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is to make the Internet work better by producing high quality, relevant technical documents that influence the way people design, use, and manage the Internet. IETF has released a series of documents and expert commentaries covering a wide range of blockchain topics and has positioned itself as active supporter of Web3 technologies. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Cryptocurrency payment; Internet of Things (IOT); Security and Privacy | Internet standards | |
| Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) | https://datatracker.ietf.org/rg/dinrg/about/ | A2 | United States | The Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) aims to promote research for the evolution of the internet. Blockchain topics are covered by the Decentralized Internet Infrastructure Research Group which focuses on infrastructure services that can benefit from decentralization. The group also coordinates with other IRTF groups to explore cross-sector blockchian topics. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Identity; digital assets | Internet infrastructure services | |
| InterWork Alliance (IWA) | https://interwork.org/ | A1 | United States | The InterWork Alliance (IWA) is working to develop standards-based interworking specifications at the token and smart contract level, simplify and standardize multi-party exchanges, and build specifications and tools to define tokens and smart contracts in a platform-neutral way. IWA empowers organizations to adopt and use token-powered services in their day-to-day operations. It does not focus on underlying technology, as digital interchanges of value must work regardless of the underlying technology to grow at scale. Instead, IWA focuses on defining token/smart contract requirements, and developing taxonomies and definitions for tokenization and smart contracts for identified use cases such as carbon markets and debt/equity issuance. IWA merged with the Gloal Blockchain Business Council (GBBC) in 2021. | Technical | Interoperability; tokens (Token Taxonomy Framework); smart contracts (InterWork Framework); carbon markets; debt/equity issuance | Blockchain technology | ||
| iTeh | https://theiteh.com/ | A1 | Canada | iTeh is the source of engineering specifications and standards, as well as manuals and technical publications. It aggregates European, American, and international standards from the International Organization for Standards (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the European Telecommunications Standards (ETSI), and the Slovenian Institute of Standardization (SIST). In collaboration with the Slovenian Institute of Standardization (SIST), iTeh has developed and compiled a comprehensive collection of over 200 standard packages tailored for a wide range of sectors and industries. A number of these standards packages cover applications of blockchain technology. | Technical | Blockchain systems, reference architecture, supply chain, financial services, identity management, vocabulary, use cases, Internet of Things, security, custody, governance, smart contracts | Engineering | ||
| Joint Technical Committee (JTC 1) | https://jtc1info.org/ | S1 | Switzerland | The ISO and IEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC 1) for information technology is a consensus-based and voluntary international standards body. With respect to standardization for emerging technologies and innovations, JTC 1 intends to promote active cooperation among standards devellopment organization (e.g., ISO, IEC, ITU-T, fora, consortia, etc.) to avoid overlapping work. as a JTC 1 intitative, ISO and IEC also decided to form a Joint Advisory Group (JAG) Group on Emerging Technology and Innovation (JETI), with specified terms of reference to facilitate JTC 1 standards development for future emerging and innovation technologies. Whenever any entity wants to authenticate and verify standards work, it needs a JTC1 sponsoring committee. | Technical | Blockchain requirements; applications | Emerging and innovation technologies | ||
| Joint Working Group (JWG) | https://intervasp.org/ | A1/R1 | United States and United Kingdom | The Joint Working Group (JWG), led by Global Digital Finance (GDF), the International Digital Asset Exchange Association (IDAXA), and the Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC), identified the need for VASPs to adopt uniform approaches and establish common standards to enable them to meet their obligations resulting from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations as they apply to affected entities. To tackle this, a cross-industry, cross-sectoral joint working group of technical experts was formed in December 2019 and a new technical standard developed by the group. The resulting InterVASP Messaging Standards (IVMS) created standards for the sharing of originator and beneficiary information on transactions in order to comply with the Travel Rule. | Conduct/Governance | Regulatory | Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule; sharing of originator and beneficiary information on transactions | Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Travel Rule compliance for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) and other obliged entities that engage in or provide covered virtual asset (VA) activities | |
| Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) | https://dlt.mobi/ | A1/S2 | United States | The Mobility Open Blockchain Initiative (MOBI) is a group of organizations that have joined a national committee focused on creating standards for blockchain technology. MOBI creates standards and builds Web3 infrastructure for connected ecosystem and IoT commerce, facilitating the new economy of movement. MOBI’s Vehicle Identity Working Group (VIWG) aims to use DLT to make mobility safer, greener, cheaper and more accessible. | Conduct/Governance | Vehicle identity; usage-based insurance; electric vehicle grid integration; connected mobility and data; marketplaces; supply chain and finance; securitization and smart contracts | Blockchain and related technologies for mobility | ||
| National Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Standardisation Technical Committee | https://www.chinabankingnews.com/2020/04/14/china-assembles-technical-committee-for-national-blockchain-and-distributed-ledger-standards/ | S2 | China | China's National Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Standardisation Technical Committee was established by the country's central government as a technical committee with the task of establishing nationwide blockchain standards. This committee is chaired by the vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and comprised of members from political, industrial, academic and research organisations. This is a group of organizations that have joined a national committee focused on creating standards for blockchain technology. | Regulatory | Blockchain applications; DLT requirements; DLT terminology | Blockchain technology in China | ||
| National Information Standards Organization (NISO) | https://www.niso.org/niso-io/2022/03/new-and-emerging-specs-and-standards-march-2022 | S2 | United States | Accredited by the American National Standards Institute, NISO's mission is to build knowledge, foster discussion, and advance authoritative standards development through collaboration among the cultural, scholarly, scientific, and professional communities. It develops technical standards for publishing, libraries, media, and other content distribution. It documents New and Emerging Specs and Standards that recongize reference architecture for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies for data records in trustless systems, in the context of ISO's technical committee ISO/TC 307 on the topic. | Technical | Data records | Information standards | ||
| National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) | https://www.nist.gov/ | A2 | United States | National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is a physical sciences laboratory and non-regulatory agency within the US Department of Commerce, with the mission to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST research initiatives have investigated blockchain topics including use cases, applications and existing services, protocols, security guarantees, and cryptographic mechanisms including quantum-resistant public-key cryptographic algorithms. These intitiatives have also produced scientific papers, software for experimentation, and resources for other NIST endeavors related to blockchain, recongnizing its potential for implementation across various systems including manufacturing supply chains, data registries, digital identification, and records management. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Blockchain applications and existing services; protocols; security; cryptography | Innovation and industrial competitiveness | |
| Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) - OASIS Open | https://www.oasis-open.org/ | S1 | United States | The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) is a nonprofit, international consortium with the mission of promoting adoption of product-independent standards for information formats. The initiative OASIS Open sets standards for open collaboration, with open code and open standards, which are applicable for blockchain and other emerging technologies. It provides resources for open source projects to develop in a standardized manner, so as to obtain approval by international policies and procurement processes. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Open code; information formats; standardization of open source projects | Information standards for open source products | |
| Slovenian Institute of Standardization (SIST) | https://www.sist.si/en | A2 | Slovenia | The Slovenian Institute for Standardization (SIST) is the recognized a national standards body of the Republic of Slovenia, established as a "sui generis" public institute under public law and founded by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in August of 2000 under the Decision on the Foundation of SIST. It develops, adopts, and maintains Slovenian standards, and participates in the work of international (ISO, IEC, ITU-T) and European Standardisation Organisations (CEN, CENELEC, ETSI) where its experts represent national interests. These standards include matters in blockchain technology. | Technical | Blockchain technology | Technical field in Slovenia | ||
| Standardization Administration of the P.R.C. (SAC) | http://www.sac.gov.cn/sacen/ | S2 | China | The Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) (SAC) exercises administrative responsibilities by undertaking unified management, supervision, and overall coordination of standardization work in China. It has established a national standards committee on blockchain. The SAC also represents China within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and other international and regional standardization organizations. | Conduct/Governance | Regulatory | DLT requirements | Health, Safety, and Security | |
| Standards Australia | https://www.standards.org.au/engagement-events/sectors/blockchain | S2 | Australia | Standards Australia coordinates standardization activities and facilitates the development of Australian standards. It established initiatives for global blockchain standardization efforts, managing the international Secretariat of the International Technical Committee for Blockchain Standards (ISO/TC 307) following ISO's approval of Standards Australia's proposal for new international blockchain standards. | Regulatory | Reference architecture; terminology: smart contracts, governance: privacy; security and identity; supply chain and trade facilitation: security evaluation of consensus models; data flow | Blockchain technology in Australia and internationally | ||
| Telecommunications Industry Association | http://standards.tiaonline.org/standards/resources/meid/index.cfm | A2 | United States | The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) has developed the Mobile Equipment IDentifier (MEID), a globally unique 56-bit identification number for a physical piece of mobile station equipment to facilitate mobile equipment identification and tracking. MEIDs are coordinated with International Mobile Equipment Identifiers (IMEIs), facilitating global roaming and harmonization as a universal mobile equipment identifier. Globally administered by the TIA, MEIDs typically show the manufacturer code and the equipment serial number. The new E-MEID is an enhanced and tokenized MEID that creates a globally unique, auditable, and verifiable data repository for any physical or virtual asset connected to the wireless network. It can be used to improve ICT Supply Chain Security, enhancing Internet-of-Things (IoT) security and preventing unlicensed access to Non-Fungible Token (NFT) based digital assets. By attaching an MEID to a blockchain specifically designed to support ICT supply chain security, a globally unique digital token can be created that can represent any associated physical or digital asset. | Technical | Telecommunications; Manufacturing; ICT Supply Chain; Internet of Things; NFTs | Telecommunications | ||
| The Gold Standard (GS) | https://www.goldstandard.org/ | S1 | Switzerland | The Gold Standard (GS) is an international carbon offset standard, providing a voluntary carbon offset program with the aim of advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and benefit surrounding communities around projects. It has announced proposals to allow the creation of digital tokens representing carbon credits. Gold Standard, for example, is considering the use blockchain to improve impact data quality, reduce time and costs in the context of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). It has also launched working groups with participants from the carbon and blockchain industry. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Tokens; carbon credits; climate markets | Voluntary carbon offsets | |
| US Department of Commerce - International Trade Administration (ITA) | https://www.commerce.gov/bureaus-and-offices/ita | R2 | United States | The International Trade Administration (ITA) of the US Department of Commerce has been tasked with establishing a framework to enhance US economic competitiveness in the digital asset sector, advancing this technology to reinforce US leadersnip in the glogal financial system, according to the Executive Order on crypto released in March of 2022. | Regulatory | Trade, Technology, Financial services | Commerce | ||
| US Department of Defense | https://www.defense.gov/ | R2 | United States | The US Department of Defense has been tasked to carry out the Executive Order on crypto released in March of 2022, for aspects related to national security. This requires taking action to limit illicit finance and other national security risks. | Regulatory | Cybersecurity, fraud detection, anti-money laundering | National Security | ||
| US Department of the Treasury | https://home.treasury.gov/ | R2 | United States | The US Department of the Treasury has been tasked to evaluate the implications of digital assets, including a central bank digital currency, on money and payment systems, and the broader US financial system, according to the Executive Order on crypto released in March of 2022. | Regulatory | Financial services, money, payments, central bank digital currencies, | Financial | ||
| US Federal Reserve | https://www.fedsearch.org/board_public/search?text=blockchain&Search= | R2 | United States | The US Federal Reserve is tasked with monetary policy in the United States. Overseeing banks' crypto activity, it has released a number of statements on the application of this technology in the financial system and its implications on financial stability. The Fed has clarified that lenders under its supervision must get approval before engaging in activities related to digital assets. The Minneapolis Fed in particualr has been tasked with blockchain standards. | Regulatory | Stablecoins, digital currency, central bank digital currency (CBDC), decentralized finance (DeFi), financial stability, financial services, financial market infrastructure, payments | Financial | ||
| Verra | https://verra.org/ | S1 | United States | Verra develops and manages globally applicable standards for a sustainable future, to advance action and investment across several sectors related to social and environmental issues. Its Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) Program is the world’s largest carbon crediting approach. Verra announced an intended approach to crypto instruments and tokens associated with carbon credits that have undergone verification through the VCS standard. | Conduct/Governance | Technical | Tokens; carbon credits; climate markets | Carbon credit standards | |
| World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - Blockchain Taskforce | https://www.wipo.int/cws/en/taskforce/blockchain/background.html | A1/R1 | Switzerland | The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) promotes the protection of intellectual property throughout the world through cooperation among states and, where appropriate, in collaboration with any other international organization; and ensures administrative cooperation among unions. Its Blockchian Taskforce was established to explore blockchain uses in the IP ecosystem and propose a new WIPO standards on the use of IP data with blochchain technology. | Conduct/Governance | Intellectual property and data; cooperation among states, international organizations, and unions | Intellectual Property (IP) | ||
| World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - Blockchain Community Group | https://www.w3.org/community/blockchain/ | A1/R1 | Global | The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the web. It is an agreement amongst 4 host participants: MIT, INRIA (France), Keio University (Japan), and Beihang University (China) and its nearly 400 members. The initial blockchain workshop it hosted paved way for a number of collaborations including a GitHub repository for its Blockchain Community Group and other workshops. The W3C Blockchain Community Group is established to develop message format standards for blockchain based on ISO20022, as well as guidelines for the use of storage such as torrent, public blockchains, private blockchains, side chains, and CDN. The group also studies blockchian use cases and new technologies related to blockchain. | Conduct/Governance | Identity, Verifiable claims; storage; public and private blockchains; side chains; use cases; related technologies | Internet | ||
| Zhejiang Blockchain Standardization Technical Committee | S2 | China | The Blockchain Standardization Technical Committee was initiated by the Economy and Information Technology Department of Zhejiang Province with committee members like Zhejiang University, Ant Financial and 8BTC. The Committee is working to promote the advancement of the blockchain industry by undertaking and developing blockchain standards for Zhejiang Province. | Technical | Regulatory | dApps, digital identity | Blockchain standards in China |
*Proposed outcome as defined by the user group of a standards body, which in this case refers to persons using blockchain for fiduciary or enterprise purposes
** Topic as relevant to blockchain activity