International Token Reference (ITR)

The demand for digital assets is on the rise
Increasing interest from customers and a growing improvement in the regulatory framework are driving demand for digital assets – currently still heavily focused on crypto-currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. Major investments in these products are now possible for the first time. Therefore, digital assets are becoming increasingly important for banks and financial service providers.
 
Adjustment of the regulatory framework
The German Electronic Securities Act (eWpG) allows digital assets to be issued in the form of crypto-securities and crypto-fund units. This is on an equal footing with the previous certificate-based issues.
 
Expansion of investable assets
In addition to crypto-currencies and crypto-securities, many other assets can now be invested in digital form, as so-called tokens, on distributed ledger technology (DLT – also known as blockchain). This includes among others, real estate, works of art and classic cars.
 
Reference data on tokens becomes necessary
The new way of representing assets in the form of digital tokens entails a large amount of additional information, which refer in particular to:

• the characteristics of the token
• the underlying technology, the ledger (the blockchain)
• the classifications with regard to tokens and ledgers.

 
Such data is necessary, among others, for the custody, manage-ment and settlement of the digital assets, as well as for the assessment of risks that may arise from the new technology.
 
WM Datenservice has developed a solution: International Token Reference (ITR)
WM Datenservice has developed the new product International Token Reference (ITR) for token-specific reference data. In cooperation with the International Token Standardization Association (ITSA – www.itsa.global) and, among others, on the basis of the ITSA Tokenbase, WM Datenservice conso-lidates and structures the information of all important digital assets1) and assigns WKN and ISIN to them. ITR provides, among others, the following data at token level:

• WKN, ISIN and ITIN
• time of the first deployment of the token on the ledger
• type of token (native/auxiliary)
• generation mechanism (ERC20)
• name of ledger
• type of ledger
• hash function
• classifications of the digital assets according to different relevant standards
• information about the issuers, if available
• access to other information sources with the help of various links and URLs (token website, Twitter, GitHub, …).

 
The advantages for you
1. Basic token-specific information on more than 90% of the market volume of digital assets1) are available in the ITR without the need to connect to a blockchain.
 
2. The data is provided in the well-known and future-proof XML formats of WM Datenservice. In the case of digital assets, the use of the new ITR product thus also allows:

• processing of the data in the existing IT systems and at different process stages,
• improved risk assessment based on the information relating to the technical fundamentals,
• in-depth analysis of tokens by providing the Enhanced Financial Instrument Classification (EFIC) of WM Datenservice as well as the International Token Classification (ITC).

 
General securities reference data, regulatory and statistical key figures as well as CFI and FISN on crypto-currencies and crypto-securities will continue to be provided by WM Datenservice via the known WM data channels.
 
You need more information?
If you have any queries or questions on our product ITR, our sales department is available for you at +49 (0)69 2732-100 or sales@wmdaten.com.