Distributed Ledger Technology Working Group

Purpose

This Working Group’s primary objectives are to focus on the education and creation of thought leadership for ISSA participants engaged in Digital Assets (DA) and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). In addition  to create an early awareness of developments in this new market such as Decentralized Finance(DeFi) and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT). The aim is to generate recommendations to ISSA members on how to approach these topics.

Scope / Key Deliverables

The nature of DA and DLT solutions are constantly evolving in an immature marketplace. The Working Group areas of focus include topics which would benefit from best practices, industry standardization and interoperability between participants. These topics span DLT, DA, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), Stablecoins, NFT and DeFi. They are selected by the relative priority of the participating organisations but are approached from a Securities Services perspective.

The current in scope topics are:

(1) Digital Asset Custody

The scope of the first paper is:

• Set out the existing landscape for (global) DAC
• Mapping how does DAC fit into the overall crypto and digital assets landscape, drawing parallels or comparisons to traditional custody with the aim to allow market actors to understand the DAC business
• Outlining the value provided and the market participants and where there are overlaps between the roles (e.g. exchange, custodians, wallet providers, technology providers, full service custodians with asset protection liability)
• Set out the main challenges and opportunities “the industry” faces
• Examine the Voice of the Customer i.e. what do the investors want, the ultimate utility of any DAC solutions .This may vary by type of investors (Retail, traditional IMs and Crypto native IMs). It will use some examples and interviews rather than a comprehensive survey based approach.
• Conduct a high-level gap assessment between what is offered and what investors want
• Highlight direction of travel for the industry with one or two probable scenarios for accelerating best practice DAC solutions

Key Deliverables: Publish White Paper on DAC in conjunction with GDF and Deloitte

(2) Continuation of the “ISSA Member Showcasing DLT Deployments” Podcast Series

Key Deliverables: Issuing regular Podcasts of “DLT in the Real World” highlighting the successes (and challenges) of our members to the broadest audience.

(3) Initiate and analyse the 2023 DLT in the Real World Survey

Podcasts / Articles / Videos

• DLT panel discussion at SIBOS 
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World”  MarketNode discussing bond issuance as a prime use case for DLT
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World” Clearstream’s launch of the new D7 platform
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World” 2022 Survey findings (10/2022)
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World” HQLAx and Deutsche Boerse (07/2022)
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World” SDX and regulated Blockchain (03/2022)
• Podcast “DLT in the Real World” DTCC’s Private Market Initiative (02/2022)
• Podcast on “DLT – Voice of the Customer” Findings (11/2021)
• Podcast of “DLT in the Real World Survey” Findings (11/2021)
• Podcast Highlights of the ISSA & Value Exchange “DLT in the Real World Survey” (10/2020)
• ISSA Article Tokenization, August 2019

Reports

• DLT in the Real World Survey 2022 – Analysis (10/2022)
• DLT In the Real World Survey 2022 – Key Findings (07/2022) >2 MB
• Revised DLT Asset Identifiers Matrix (07/2022) > Excel 417 kB
• Report “Crypto Assets: Moving from Theory to Practise – Revision 2022 (04/2022) > PDF 973 kB
• Report “Blueprint for CBDC in Post-Trade Settlement” (12/2021) > PDF 1.8 MB
• DLT In the Real World Survey 2021 – Key Findings (09/2021) > 285 kB
• DLT Asset Identifiers Matrix (09/2021)
• Report “DLT – Voice of the Customer Survey 2021” (08/2021) > PDF
• Industry Survey on “Adoption of DLT and Crypto-Assets” First Results (11/2019)
• Report “Crypto-Assets: Moving from Theory to Practice” (11/2019) > PDF 1.2 MB
• Report on “Tokenization – the Elegant Way Forward?” (08/2019) > PDF 321 kB
• Report “Infrastructure for Crypto-Assets: A Review by Infrastructure Providers” (10/2018) > PDF 787 kB
• DLT “Principles for Industry-Wide Acceptance” (06/2018) > PDF 1.2 MB
• Report “General Meeting Proxy Voting on Distributed Ledger”, Product Requirements (11/2017) > PDF 685 kB
• Cross-Reference Table aligning the Proxy Voting DLT solution with ISO 20 (11/2017) > PDF 395 kB

Working Group Co-Chairs

Steve Everett, TMX Group
Glen Fernandes, Euroclear

Executive Sponsor

Vivekanand Ramgopal, Tata Consultancy Services

Institutions Represented by Experts in the Working Group

• Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
• Accenture Plc
• Acupay System LLC
• Aite Novarica
• Archax Holding Ltd.
• Banque Internationale à Luxembourg SA
• BBVA
• BNP Paribas S.A.
• BVC/DECEVAL Colombia
• Broadridge Financial Solutions
• Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
• Bursa Malaysia Berhad
• Central Securities Clearing System Plc
• Citigroup Inc.
• Credit Suisse Group AG
• DBS Bank
• Deposito Central de Valores
• Deutsche Bank
• Deutsche Börse Group
• ECSDA
• Euroclear
• Euronext Securities – Monte Titoli
• FIS
• Fnality International Limited
• Grupo Bolsa Mexicana de Valores
• HSBC Holding Plc
• ISSA
• Intesa Sanpaolo
• JP Morgan
• KBC Group NV
• KDD Central Securities Clearing Corporation
• Korea Securities Depository KSD
• Maroclear S.A.
• Metaco SA
• Myriad Group Technologies
• Nasdaq Inc
• NEXGEN Business Consultants GmbH
• Northern Trust
• NSDL India
• R3 LLC
• Royal Bank of Canada
• S&P Global / IHS Markit
• SEB Group
• Singapore Exchange Limited
• Standard Chartered Bank
• State Street Bank & Trust Company
• Strate (Pty) Ltd
• SWIFT SCRL
• Swiss Re Ltd
• Tata Group
• The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation
• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation
• The Global Blockchain Business Council
• The Investment Association
• The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd.
• The Standard Bank of South Africa
• The Stock Exchange of Thailand
• TMX Group Limited
• U.S. Bank N.A.
• UBS Grooup AG