The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance has launched a neutral to blockchain initiative on the taxonomy of tokens in partnership with large firms. The initiative will focus on defining tokens in non-technical and intersectoral terms.
EEA calls itself “a member-based standardization organization whose statutory task is to develop open blockchain specifications for harmonization and interoperability”.
Members of this initiative reportedly include Accenture global consulting firm, large banks Santander and JPMorgan Chase, ConsenSys blockchain incubator, EY Big Four auditor, Intel, Microsoft and IBM technology giants, R3 blockchain consortium, International Blockchain Research Center, research and development blockchains, firms Clearmatics and others.
The new Token Taxonomy Initiative will be aimed at creating a common set of terms and definitions of tokens – no matter what blockchain they receive – as the cornerstone for business and developers.
Standardization, says EEA Director Ron Resnick, may reveal the unhindered use of tokens “employees or providing access to a set of goods, financial assets, securities, services, value or content” in enterprise-level blockchain applications.
Along with an explanation of the concept and scope of the token model, the initiative will focus on consideration of use cases, taxonomy, terminology and technical specifications.
To this end, the project will focus on setting technical standards that can counteract fragmentation between multiple blockchain protocols and ensure interoperability between platforms and use cases – regardless of whether tokens are used for purposes like currencies or represent unique assets.
The initiative will be structured in such a way as to include the structure of the taxonomy of tokens, followed by an educational initiative that will take place through structured workshops on defining tokens.
As previously reported, the EEA, with more than 500 members, is involved in ongoing work on token standards, which began with a particular focus on Ethereum specifications (ETH). In the fall of 2018, Hyperledger and EEA announced their mutual associate membership.
The organization expanded its global operations by opening a regional office in China in February of this year. In the same month, the EEA announced that it would launch the so-called “token task force”, which will focus on ETH-derived ERC-20 tokens and ERC-721 informal tokens.
