Cardano has launched CIP-0113, a new token standard designed to address a central challenge in institutional blockchain adoption: enabling regulated assets to operate on a public network while maintaining the compliance controls their issuers are legally required to enforce.
The Cardano Foundation announced that CIP-0113 is now live on mainnet following development work with community members and multiple security audits. The standard allows issuers to add programmable controls directly to native Cardano tokens, including know-your-customer requirements, sanctions screening, transfer restrictions, and mechanisms that can freeze assets under predefined conditions.
Unlike conventional token standards, CIP-0113 targets regulated financial assets. Stablecoin issuers, tokenized funds, bond providers, and real-world asset platforms often require the ability to verify who can receive an asset, restrict transfer destinations, and respond when a wallet becomes sanctioned or otherwise ineligible.
Public blockchains have traditionally operated on a permissionless transfer model, making such restrictions difficult to implement. CIP-0113 preserves Cardano's native asset model while allowing issuers to attach compliance rules to specific programmable tokens. Importantly, these controls apply only to assets issued using the new standard and do not affect ADA or the underlying network's permissionless architecture.
The Cardano Foundation noted that CIP-0113 has been recognized by the Swiss Capital Markets and Technology Association. Several ecosystem tools and wallets are supporting the standard at launch.
Adoption by financial institutions will ultimately determine the standard's impact. As crypto networks compete for real-world assets and tokenized funds, transaction speed alone is insufficient. Issuers also require compliance infrastructure, custody solutions, reliable settlement, and mechanisms to enforce legal restrictions tied to underlying assets. CIP-0113 represents Cardano's effort to embed such compliance logic into the asset itself, potentially enabling regulated tokenization without requiring a separate permissioned blockchain.
