The International Organization of Securities Commissions’ Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets are a 2023 global standard-setting framework for the regulation of centralized crypto-asset market activities. IOSCO published the final report on Nov. 16, 2023, under identifier FR11/2023. The recommendations are not legislation in any single jurisdiction; they are addressed to relevant authorities and are designed to help IOSCO members apply securities-regulation standards to crypto-asset activities within their own legal frameworks.
IOSCO crypto and digital asset recommendations: scope and status
The final report sets out 18 policy recommendations for crypto and digital asset markets. IOSCO describes them as principles-based, outcomes-focused and aimed at activities performed by crypto-asset service providers, or CASPs. The report focuses on centralized market activity across the crypto-asset lifecycle, including offering, admission to trading, trading, settlement, market surveillance, custody, marketing and distribution to retail investors.
As of July 21, 2026, the recommendations remain a final IOSCO global standard rather than a directly binding law. Member jurisdictions may use existing frameworks or develop new frameworks to pursue regulatory outcomes that are consistent with IOSCO’s Objectives and Principles for Securities Regulation. Domestic legal effect depends on adoption, supervision or rulemaking by the relevant jurisdiction.
The recommendations apply to all types of crypto-assets and include stablecoin-related guidance where trading, disclosure, conflicts, custody or reserve-asset issues create distinct risks. IOSCO later published separate decentralized finance recommendations and an umbrella note, so this profile should be read as the centralized crypto-asset markets component of IOSCO’s broader crypto policy package.
Key provisions for crypto-asset service providers
IOSCO groups the 18 recommendations around six policy areas: conflicts of interest, market manipulation and fraud, custody and client asset protection, cross-border regulatory cooperation, operational and technological risk, and retail distribution. The framework follows the principle of “same activity, same risk, same regulatory outcome,” while allowing domestic implementation to reflect local legal structures and regulatory mandates.
Governance, conflicts and market operation
The report addresses vertically integrated CASP business models, where a single group may combine exchange trading, brokerage, proprietary trading, margin, custody, settlement and re-use of assets. It calls for governance and organizational arrangements to manage conflicts, role-and-capacity disclosures, fair order handling and market-operation transparency. IOSCO also highlights listing and delisting standards, issuer-related disclosures and primary-market conflict management.
Market abuse, custody and retail protection
Recommendations 8 through 10 focus on fraud, market abuse, surveillance and misuse of material non-public information. Custody recommendations address segregation, safeguarding, disclosure of safekeeping arrangements, reconciliation, independent assurance and controls intended to reduce inappropriate mixing or misuse of client assets. Retail distribution guidance focuses on appropriateness, disclosure and marketing practices, including risks associated with social media promotion.
Implementation and international coordination
IOSCO’s final report places cross-border cooperation at the center of the framework because CASPs often operate across jurisdictions or present themselves as borderless. Recommendation 11 addresses information sharing and cooperation among regulators for crypto-asset issuance, trading and other activities. The Financial Stability Board also lists the IOSCO recommendations in its compendium as a policy standard for financial regulation and supervision.
IOSCO followed the final report with implementation monitoring. In 2025, IOSCO published a thematic review assessing progress across 20 jurisdictions on selected recommendations covering governance, conflicts, market abuse, cross-border cooperation, custody, retail client protections and disclosures. The review found significant progress but noted that implementation remains uneven and that jurisdictions continue to develop legal and regulatory frameworks. IOSCO said the review would inform a 2026 assessment methodology and later regular consistency assessments.
Why the IOSCO 2023 recommendations matter
For CryptoSlate readers, the profile is most useful as a reference point for how securities regulators may align crypto market rules across borders. It does not create direct compliance obligations for exchanges, custodians, issuers or investors unless an individual jurisdiction incorporates the recommendations through binding law, regulation, licensing conditions, supervision or enforcement practice.