Beyond crypto-assets

Blockchain is one application of distributed ledger technology, but DLT is not synonymous with cryptocurrency. Shared ledgers, transaction traceability and programmability can support financial infrastructure, supply chains and rights management.

Technical integrity of a ledger does not guarantee the truth of the information entered into it.

The token and the represented right

A token may represent value, a contractual position or a right, but digital representation does not automatically create the underlying legal right. The legal or contractual mechanism linking token and asset must be identified.

Tokenisation is therefore a question of legal classification and enforceability as well as technology.

Smart contracts and automation

A smart contract is code capable of automatically executing defined conditions; it is not necessarily a contract in the legal sense. Validity, interpretation, remedies and defects of consent remain governed by applicable law.

Technical irreversibility does not prevent the legal system from ordering restitution, damages or other remedies.

Financial markets and MiCA

Regulation (EU) 2022/858 establishes a pilot regime for DLT market infrastructures. MiCA, Regulation (EU) 2023/1114, provides a framework for crypto-assets that do not already fall, among other things, within the financial-instruments regime.

Classification of the asset therefore precedes selection of the regulatory framework.

Real-world assets, real estate and private keys

In Italian real estate, transferring a token does not automatically transfer title to land: statutory formalities, notarial intervention and registration remain relevant. Indirect structures may instead link tokens to interests in entities or vehicles holding the asset.

Control of a private key does not necessarily equal legal ownership. Tokenisation becomes legally meaningful when the relationship among token, represented right and holder is clearly governed.