The Cardano Foundation announced at TOKEN2049 that CIP-0113, Cardano’s new programmable token standard, is now live on the Cardano mainnet. This upgrade allows issuers of stablecoins, tokenized funds, bonds, and other regulated assets to embed compliance features such as KYC and AML checks, sanctions screening, freezing, seizing, and transfer restrictions directly into their tokens. The Cardano ledger enforces these compliance rules every time a token is transferred, minted, or burned.
Seamless compliance for tokenization
According to the Cardano Foundation, the CIP-0113 standard was jointly developed with experts from the Cardano community, following multiple independent security audits. The Foundation did not name the specific auditors involved. Importantly, the implementation of this standard did not require a hard fork of the Cardano blockchain.
Tokens created under CIP-0113 remain native assets on Cardano. The compliance logic is embedded in the token using Cardano’s extended UTXO (EUTXO) model, allowing wallets, explorers, and decentralized applications to treat them as any other Cardano asset.
The new system promises consistently predictable execution costs, irrespective of how many inputs a transaction involves.
Issuers can select from modular compliance rule sets, called modules, or develop their own custom modules. These rules can be updated in response to evolving regulations without the need to modify the core standard itself. The launch was supported by several Cardano ecosystem tools, including Eternl, GeroWallet, CardanoScan, and BloxBean.
Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation, explained the approach:
Programmable tokens on Cardano remain native assets on the ledger, with compliance enforced by the network itself rather than by a wrapper or a closed system. This step is designed for institutions considering blockchain for tokenization, such as banks, fund managers, and stablecoin issuers, and shifts the discussion from what Cardano could do to what it does now.
Industry adoption and technical background
The Foundation highlighted that international financial organizations, including the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), consider programmable features central to the future of tokenized financial markets.
Separately, the Cardano Foundation and the Swiss Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) announced a new step in certification. The CMTA will now treat Cardano’s CIP-113 Programmable Asset Tokens as equivalent to its CMTAT smart contract standard, making these tokens eligible for certifying ledger-based equity securities under CMTA guidelines.
Mini dictionary: The Swiss Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) is a Geneva-based non-profit industry body that develops standards for the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) in financial markets, including frameworks for tokenized securities and asset tokens.
Earlier this year, the Foundation made the Programmable Tokens Platform and the CIP-0113 reference implementation available via open source, accompanied by a public preview on Cardano’s Preview testnet. At launch, the Foundation emphasized that an independent audit of the smart contracts was essential before the standard went into full production.
Moving forward, the Foundation plans to continue collaborating with projects and institutions using the standard, with ongoing development of a specialized securities module for regulated financial assets.
With CIP-0113 on mainnet, Cardano asset issuers can build regulatory compliance directly into their tokens, streamline tokenization, and respond dynamically to evolving laws.
