The Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) and the Cardano Foundation today announced that Cardano's CIP-0113 Programmable Asset Tokens CMTA Profile (the Cardano CMTA smart contract) has been recognized under the CMTA Tokenized Shares certification scheme as equivalent to the CMTAT. The recognition decision confirms that the implementation complies with the CMTAT Framework and covers all functions mandatory for equity securities. This allows issuers to use the Cardano CMTA smart contract to issue ledger-based securities that can be certified under the CMTA Tokenized Shares certification scheme. Aligning Cardano Programmable Asset Tokens with the CMTAT Framework expands the choice of blockchain networks available to issuers under the certification scheme.

Technology and on-chain controls

CIP-0113 (Programmable Asset Tokens) is a Cardano standard that allows issuers to enforce compliance logic directly on native Cardano assets, such as restricting transfers to verified holders or freezing assets pursuant to a court or regulatory order. This validation logic runs on every transfer, mint, and burn, enabling compliance rules for tokenized securities that require freeze, seizure, or allowlist controls. The on-chain components include KYC-gated transfers, denylisting, global pause, forced transfers and seizures, supply caps, role-based permissions, and an irreversible decommission mechanism. The Cardano CMTA smart contract provides a version of Programmable Asset Tokens aligned specifically with the equity-related functions of the CMTAT Framework.

CMTA Expert Committee decision

The Cardano CMTA smart contract was recognized by CMTA's Expert Committee in a decision on 6 October 2026 confirming that:

• the Cardano CMTA smart contract includes all functions required for tokenizing equity under the CMTAT Framework, contains nothing that contradicts those requirements, and can be used instead of the CMTAT reference implementation for tokenizing equity securities, provided that each deployment records on chain a reference to the tokenization terms, shows the shares as whole units (with no fractions), includes a token name and ticker, and records the version of the underlying Cardano infrastructure against which it was checked; and
• the recognition extends only to tokenized shares and does not currently cover the CMTA tokenized debt certification scheme. It does not cover the underlying Cardano base layer infrastructure, which was audited separately.

The full decision can be consulted here.

The CMTAT is an open, blockchain-agnostic framework for tokenizing financial instruments, defining mandatory and optional functions for tokenizing securities. Alongside the CMTA Tokenized Shares certification scheme it aims to provide a standardized tool for issuers to reduce verification and compliance costs linked to the use of smart contracts for tokenization. Swiss issuers may use the Cardano CMTA smart contract to issue ledger-based securities that can be certified under the CMTA Tokenized Shares certification scheme.

Looking ahead

Issuers and service providers can get started by:

• reviewing the open-source Cardano CMTA smart contract code at https://github.com/cardano-foundation/cpt-rwa-ch-de-cmta-reference
• consulting the CMTAT Framework documentation at https://cmta.ch/standards/cmta-token-cmtat
• learning about applying for the CMTA Tokenized Shares certification at https://cmta.ch/certification/cmta-tokenized-shares-certification.