Microsoft, Nasdaq and Others to Set Global Tokenization Standards

Microsoft’s principal architect Marley Gray and Enterprise Ethereum Alliance’s former director Ron Resnick today launched the InterWork Alliance (IWA), a non-profit organization aimed at bringing global standards for the token-based ecosystem.

At launch, the IWA has more than 28 blockchain, technology, and financial organizations from around the world, including Microsoft, Chainlink, Hyperledger, IBM, Nasdaq, Accenture, and others.

The IWA indicates that startups presently working on tokenized ecosystems are mostly focusing on their individual solutions and marketing their platforms to other businesses. 

Setting global standards, its says, will help focus this wide-scale innovation to make a collective impact on businesses. IWA President Ron Resnick stated:

“For this approach to work, standards are urgently needed around defining what a token is and how its contractual behaviors will work.”

Helping businesses with a common framework

InterWork Alliance plans to work on three different frameworks of global standards for tokenized ecosystems. First, the Token Taxonomy Framework will provide a common language and toolset so multiple parties can agree on the same terms that define a token and its use. 

The InterWork Framework will help businesses compose multi-party contracts from standard, globally recognized clauses set by the IWA. Lastly, the Analytics Framework will help businesses analyze multi-party contracts and utilize AI services and market-driven data reporting.

With these, the IWA will eventually work on interoperability between decentralized applications from different blockchain networks. 

Standardization for wider adoption

Organizations involved with the IWA are highly optimistic about how bringing global standards to the token ecosystem further the adoption of distributed business models.

Marley Gray notes that providing industry participants with token standards for a variety of distributed technology use cases can help foster interoperability and drive widespread adoption. 

Brian Behlendorf, the executive director of Hyperledger — an IWA member — said:

“Standards play a critical role in the evolution and adoption of any emerging technology. Distributed applications and token-based services will require established frameworks that assure solutions interwork on the business level, regardless of underlying technology platforms.”

“The Alliance will help establish a foundation not only for technology and business but for the changing tokenization landscape as well. A platform-neutral alliance is critical for the entire industry,” said Nitin Gaur, director of IBM WW Digital Asset Labs.