The Cardano Foundation announced on October 7 that CIP-0113, a standard for native tokens, is live on the Cardano mainnet. It lets issuers build controls such as freezing holdings, recovering assets and restricting recipient addresses into tokens designed for products including stablecoins and tokenized funds. ADA itself cannot be frozen under the standard.
For holders of tokens issued under CIP-0113, the ability to transfer or receive assets—and the possibility of recovery—will depend on the rules set by the issuer and how those rules are applied. The launch adds tools for regulated on-chain products without changing the properties of ADA.
CIP-0113 adds controls for transfers and recovery
The Cardano Improvement Proposal establishes a native-token standard with built-in control modules. Issuers that adopt it can freeze tokens held at an address, recover assets, restrict recipient addresses, and apply know-your-customer (KYC), anti-money-laundering (AML) and sanctions checks during minting, burning and transfers.
The standard also allows issuers to set transfer restrictions. A token could, for example, be limited to transfers between eligible addresses, or an address could be blocked from receiving assets to meet legal or regulatory requirements. For stablecoin issuers, the freeze and recovery functions could support action in response to a legal order or restrictions on a sanctioned address.
These controls are verified during transactions by the Cardano ledger, rather than through an account-management system operated by a centralized platform. CIP-0113 uses Cardano’s extended unspent transaction output (eUTXO) model and covers minting, burning and transfers. It does not require a hard fork, and its design aims to keep execution costs predictable.
Modular rules leave control with token issuers
CIP-0113 has a modular design: issuers can add pluggable substandards, create custom modules or modify existing ones. This allows stablecoins, tokenized funds and other regulated products to use different restrictions based on their legal obligations.
That flexibility makes it important to distinguish an individual token’s rules from the Cardano network itself. The CIP-0113 launch does not give the network a general ability to freeze assets. Controls apply only to tokens issued using the standard, and the specific powers depend on the rules set for each asset. ADA is not subject to freezing by a CIP-0113 issuer.
Community development work on the proposal began in 2023. It entered the CIP repository on September 29, 2026, and was formally announced as live on mainnet on October 7. The change provides standardized tools for institutions seeking to issue compliant on-chain assets; it does not alter ADA’s underlying asset characteristics.
ADA falls as the broader crypto market weakens
ADA did not rise following the announcement. Its price fell 8.71% to $0.25397 as the wider cryptocurrency market also weakened, making it difficult to attribute the move to CIP-0113 alone.
For market participants, practical questions include how tokens using the standard will disclose freeze, recovery and transfer restrictions, under what conditions issuers can activate them, and how holders will be notified. CIP-0113 provides an on-chain framework for these controls, but the permissions for each token remain defined by its issuance rules and issuer arrangements.