The Bank of Italy published a research paper on statistics for tokenized financial instruments, setting out why central banks may struggle to monitor these markets and why improved, more harmonized data are needed to support monetary policy, prudential supervision, customer protection and payment system oversight. The paper describes how distributed ledger technology, including blockchain, is changing how financial products are created, transferred and managed, with asset tokenization seen by market participants as a high-growth application. It argues that existing statistics remain quantitatively and qualitatively inadequate, citing limited global regulation and the absence of centralized trading and settlement infrastructures, and warns that official statistics risk losing track of relevant market and intermediary information as the sector evolves. Drawing on features of the crypto-asset sector, it analyses the information gap for digitalized financial instruments, outlines guidelines for a potential data-gaps initiative, and offers operational suggestions to mitigate the shortfalls. The publication is issued in the “Markets, infrastructures, payment systems” series and is available in Italian only.
Bank of Italy 2025-11-25
Bank of Italy publishes research on closing statistical gaps for tokenized financial instruments
The Bank of Italy released a paper highlighting challenges central banks face in monitoring tokenized financial instruments due to inadequate statistics and limited global regulation. It emphasizes the need for improved, harmonized data to support monetary policy and oversight, suggesting guidelines for addressing data gaps in digital finance. Published in the "Markets, infrastructures, payment systems" series, it is available in Italian.