Central Bank of Ireland Launches DLT and Tokenisation Discussion Paper, March 2026

On 5 March 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published Discussion Paper 12 (DP12) on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and Tokenisation in Financial Services. The paper is at the consultation stage; the CBI invites written submissions via an online form, with responses due by 5 June 2026. The paper does not impose obligations on regulated entities but signals the CBI's supervisory priorities as MiCA implementation deepens across the EU and as Irish-authorised fund managers and payment firms begin deploying tokenised products.

The paper is issued under the CBI's general supervisory mandate and its role as national competent authority under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 (MiCA) and the EU DLT Pilot Regime (Regulation (EU) 2022/858). DP12 poses questions in three areas: (1) how DLT can transform the underlying infrastructure of finance and create new financial services; (2) the opportunities, challenges, enablers, and risks of these technologies; and (3) how tokenisation interacts with existing financial infrastructure, intermediaries, legal frameworks, forms of money, settlement, and market practices.

Crypto exchanges, tokenised asset platforms, custodians, fund administrators, and payment service providers authorised or registered in Ireland — or planning to passport services into Ireland under MiCA — should respond to DP12. The paper directly signals areas where the CBI intends to develop supervisory expectations, particularly on consumer protection, monetary stability, and market integrity. Entities already operating under the EU DLT Pilot Regime should pay close attention to questions on settlement infrastructure.

The consultation closes 5 June 2026. The CBI stated it will use responses to inform future supervisory guidance and feed into European-level discussions at the EBA, ESMA, and ECB. Entities seeking to establish tokenisation programmes or issue digital representations of assets to Irish retail clients should treat DP12 as an early indicator of incoming supervisory expectations. No transitional provisions apply at this stage because DP12 is a consultation document, not a binding instrument.

Source: Central Bank of Ireland, Discussion Paper 12 — Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) & Tokenisation in Financial Services (DP12), published 5 March 2026, closing date 5 June 2026. Official URL: https://www.centralbank.ie/publication/discussion-papers/discussion-paper-detail/discussion-paper-12-dlt-tokenisation-in-financial-services. Confirmed 11 March 2026.

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