Asset Tokenization Studio
Connect the asset record to the transfer rules.
Asset Tokenization Studio (ATS) is Hedera's open-source toolkit for issuing equity and bond security tokens. Each security is a set of Solidity smart contracts on Hedera, organised as an upgradeable diamond proxy, with ERC-1400 support and partial ERC-3643 support. ColdAI uses it as the base layer for regulated issuances and connects it to KYC providers, transfer agents, custodians and the register of record, so the token and the legal record describe the same rights.
The opportunity
Start with a decision
worth improving.
An issuer needs to represent an asset while applying defined holder and transfer rules. The token, registry and administration process must describe the same rights and restrictions.
From possibility to a working system
Follow the flow.
Three connected decisions. One considered architecture.
Conceptual flow, not a live system or measured result.
Map the rights and roles
Work from the asset documentation and accountable specialists' requirements. Identify issuers, administrators, holders and the checks required before a token can be created or transferred.
Implement the lifecycle
Configure and integrate the selected tooling with identity and registry systems. Test issuance, transfers and administrative actions against the agreed policy and expected exceptions.
Keep the records aligned
Reconcile token state with the authoritative asset register and lifecycle events. Document how changes, corrections and holder communications are handled over the asset's life.
The work, made concrete
What we can build
with your team.
We agree scope, dependencies and acceptance criteria before delivery. Your project can start with an assessment, a pilot or an integration into an existing system.
Issuance and administration architecture
Clarify the system boundary, the responsible owners and the decisions the architecture needs to support.
Identity and registry integrations
Turn the agreed design into reviewable work, evaluated against representative inputs and explicit success criteria.
Lifecycle testing and operating procedures
Make the next step operable: document responsibilities, known limitations and the path from pilot to ongoing use.
Explore the practice
Further capabilities
and implementation detail.
What Asset Tokenization Studio is
Asset Tokenization Studio is Hedera's open-source toolkit for issuing compliant security tokens on HTS — equity, debt, funds, and other regulated real-world assets. It implements the patterns institutional issuers expect: transfer restrictions, partitions, controllers, snapshots, dividend distributions, and lifecycle hooks aligned to standards such as ERC-1400 and ERC-3643, but executed on Hedera's high-throughput, low-cost network.
ColdAI's Asset Tokenization Studio service
Issuance design
Token economics, regulatory perimeter, and lifecycle modelling — partitions, snapshots, dividend logic, and corporate-action handling — mapped to your offering.
Compliance integration
Integration with KYC/KYB providers, transfer agents, custodians, and accredited-investor verification flows.
Primary & secondary markets
Primary issuance flows, on-chain registry, and integrations with regulated secondary venues where applicable.
Operations & reporting
Cap-table operations, dividend runs, audit reporting, and ongoing investor communications.
Asset classes we tokenise on the Studio
- Private equity and fund interests
- Debt instruments and bonds
- Real estate and infrastructure SPVs
- Commodities and structured products
- Listed-equity digital twins (where regulation permits)
Issue your security token on Hedera
Engage ColdAI to deliver a compliant tokenised offering using Hedera's Asset Tokenization Studio — end to end, from structuring to mainnet operations.
Contact our Hedera teamIn depth
Go deeper: standards and the bond lifecycle
Two working guides for issuers and their advisers: choosing a permissioned-token standard, and running a digital bond from term sheet to redemption.
- 01ComparisonERC-3643 vs ERC-1400 for security tokensERC-3643 (T-REX) and ERC-1400 compared on identity, compliance logic, partitions, forced transfers and status, and how Asset Tokenization Studio combines them.
- 02ProcessTokenised bond lifecycle: issuance to redemptionEach event in a tokenised bond's life, from term sheet to final redemption, mapped to Asset Tokenization Studio features and to the parties who own each step.
How Asset Tokenization Studio is assembled
The repository ships contracts, a TypeScript SDK and a React web application for issuers, plus a separate Mass Payout module for distributions1. The layers below follow its contract architecture documentation3.
- Web app, SDK and signing
Issuer staff work through the web application or the SDK and sign with WalletConnect wallets or custody services such as Dfns, Fireblocks and AWS KMS.
- Factory
Creates a new proxy for each security, applies the equity or bond configuration, grants the first roles and deploys the identity contracts used for compliance.
- Security token proxy
One diamond proxy per issued security holds that security's storage and routes each call to the facet that implements it.
- Business Logic Resolver
Maps business logic keys to versioned facet addresses, so a coordinated upgrade can change the logic behind many securities at once.
- Facets
ERC-1400 core, partial ERC-3643 compliance and identity, freeze, hold, clearing, control lists, snapshots, scheduled tasks and the bond and equity features.
- Hedera network
Contracts execute on Hedera's EVM-compatible smart contract service; applications read history and balances through mirror nodes.
Why it matters that ATS securities are contracts rather than native HTS tokens
Hedera offers two ways to create a token. A native Hedera Token Service token is configured with keys and fees at the protocol level; a contract token is code running on the smart contract service. ATS securities are the second kind1. Every transfer runs through contract logic that checks KYC status, control lists, freezes and the security's own rules before balances change, which is what lets the Studio express rules that native token keys cannot, such as record-date snapshots, coupon schedules and clearing workflows.
The choice has practical consequences. Wallets and custodians need to support EVM contract tokens on Hedera, not only native token association. Costs are contract execution fees rather than the fixed schedule of native token operations. Distributions are a separate concern: Mass Payout can pay holders in HBAR or in an HTS token such as a stablecoin, so a security issued with ATS can still settle its cash flows in a native token1.
The upgrade path needs its own governance. Because the Business Logic Resolver points many securities at shared, versioned logic, whoever controls resolver upgrades can change how live securities behave. For a regulated issuance that authority should sit behind multi-party approval, a written change procedure and a test run on a copy of the configuration before anything reaches mainnet. Our Hedera Token Service and smart contract service pages cover the two token models in general terms.
Division of labour between the Studio and the rest of the issuance
The Studio enforces rules once they are decided. Deciding them, and holding the records the law recognises, stays with named parties. Feature names follow the repository's capabilities overview2.
| Function | What ATS provides | What must come from outside the software | Usually accountable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Investor eligibility | An on-chain KYC registry with validity periods, hooks for external KYC providers and self-sovereign identity through Terminal 32 | The KYC, KYB and accreditation checks themselves, sanctions screening and the evidence behind each approval | Issuer's compliance function or its KYC provider |
| Transfer restrictions | Allowlists, blocklists, external control lists, partial freezes and jurisdiction rule sets, with a US set provided | The legal analysis of which restrictions apply to this offering and to each investor category | Issuer's counsel |
| Holder register | On-chain balances, partitions for share classes and balance snapshots | The register of record where company or securities law requires one, and its reconciliation with the token | Transfer agent, registrar or central securities depository |
| Corporate actions | Dividend and coupon entitlements, voting, splits, maturity and early redemption | Board or trustee decisions, investor notices and the cash payment itself | Issuer and paying agent |
| Custody and signing | Integrations for custodial signing and role-based access for administrators | Custodian appointment, key ceremonies, asset segregation and recovery procedures | Custodian and issuer operations |
| Settlement | Hold operations for escrow and clearing workflows that approve or cancel pending transfers | The cash leg, whether bank transfer, stablecoin or tokenised deposit, and the delivery-versus-payment agreement | Settlement agent or venue |
| Emergency powers | Pause, external pause, account freeze, forced transfer and forced redemption | A written policy on when each power may be used, by whom and on what legal basis | Issuer, transfer agent and, where relevant, a court |
Read across each row: if the right-hand cells have no owner yet, the issuance is not ready for a production build, whatever state the contracts are in.
How ColdAI sequences an ATS integration
This is the order we work in when the Studio is the chosen base layer. It follows the issuance design, compliance integration, market integration and operations scope described on this page.
Write down the rights and the register of record
Start from the offering documents. List each right the security carries, each restriction on holding or transfer, and which record the law treats as authoritative. The token configuration is derived from this list, never the other way round.
Assign every role to a person and a key
ATS separates administrator, minter, controller, compliance, corporate-actions, clearing and snapshot roles. Map each to a named function, decide which need multi-party approval and where each key is held.
Connect identity
Link the KYC provider to the on-chain KYC registry, set validity periods that match the provider's re-verification cycle, and decide whether identity contracts or control lists carry eligibility for this offering.
Configure the security on testnet
Create the equity or bond with its classes, supply cap, restrictions and corporate-action schedule. Run transfers that should fail as well as ones that should succeed, and keep the evidence.
Wire custody and the transfer agent
Connect custodial signing for administrators and investors, then build the daily comparison between on-chain balances and the register of record, including how a break is raised and resolved.
Rehearse the exceptions
Walk through a lost key, a sanctions hit, a court order and a resolver upgrade on the test configuration. Each should end with the token and the register agreeing, and a record of who approved what.
Go live and hand over operations
Issue on mainnet, run the first corporate action with all parties watching, then hand dividend or coupon runs, audit reporting and investor communications to the team that will own them.
Is Asset Tokenization Studio the right base for your asset?
- If
You are issuing shares or debt with standard corporate actions and investor eligibility rules.
ThenStart from ATS and spend the effort on identity, custody and the register rather than on new contract code.
Equity and bond features, snapshots and emergency controls already exist in the open-source code, so effort goes into the parts specific to your issuance.
- If
The token is a simple fungible entitlement with no securities restrictions, such as an internal settlement unit.
ThenConsider a native Hedera Token Service token instead.
Native tokens are simpler to integrate with wallets and have fewer moving parts to govern.
- If
The asset is a building, a commodity or another physical holding.
ThenSettle the legal wrapper and the data feeds first, then issue shares or notes of that wrapper with ATS; see physical assets and RWA.
The Studio represents a security; it cannot establish that the underlying asset exists or who owns it.
- If
Participants must not see each other's holdings or transfers.
ThenAssess a permissioned network such as HashSphere and confirm it supports the contract features you rely on.
On public mainnet, contract state and transaction history are visible to anyone who looks.
- If
Transfer rules vary across many jurisdictions beyond the supplied US rule set.
ThenBudget for external control lists or custom compliance logic, plus an independent review of it.
Jurisdiction logic is where most of the issuance-specific code ends up.
Operating risks peculiar to contract-based securities
Concentrated upgrade authority
Early signalOne account can change resolver versions without a second approval.
MitigationPut upgrade rights behind multi-party approval, publish a change procedure and test each upgrade on a copy of the live configuration.
Token and register drift apart
Early signalBreaks between on-chain balances and the transfer agent's record are fixed by hand without a root cause.
MitigationReconcile on a fixed schedule, name the authoritative record for each event and log every correction with its approval.
Emergency powers used without a basis
Early signalForced transfers or freezes appear in the history with no matching instruction or order.
MitigationRequire a documented instruction for every controller action and review the controller log with compliance each month.
Expired KYC silently blocks holders
Early signalTransfers fail for investors whose approvals lapsed under their validity period.
MitigationAlert investors and compliance ahead of expiry and give operations a report of approvals due for renewal.
Frequently asked questions
Is Asset Tokenization Studio built on Hedera Token Service?
No. ATS securities are Solidity smart contracts deployed on Hedera's smart contract service, using a diamond proxy pattern for modular, upgradeable logic. Native Hedera Token Service tokens appear in the Mass Payout module, which can distribute HBAR or an HTS token such as a stablecoin to holders. Treat wallet, custody and fee planning accordingly.
Does using ATS make our token offering compliant?
No. The Studio enforces the transfer rules, eligibility checks and emergency controls you configure, but it cannot decide which rules apply, carry out investor due diligence or make the token a legally valid security. Those depend on the offering structure, the jurisdictions involved and the register of record, and they need counsel and the accountable parties to settle them before configuration.
Which asset types can be issued with the Studio?
The Studio ships equity and bond securities, with share classes, dividends, voting, coupons, maturity and redemption. Fund interests, property and other assets are normally represented as shares or notes of a legal vehicle that holds the asset, so they use one of those two models. The vehicle, its documents and its data feeds are designed separately from the token.
How are dividends and coupons actually paid to holders?
ATS records who is entitled using a balance snapshot at the record date and calculates entitlements. The payment can then be made by Mass Payout in HBAR or an HTS token, or off-chain by a paying agent in fiat using the snapshot as the entitlement list. Either way, the payment run should be reconciled against the snapshot and the register.
Can investors hold ATS tokens in an ordinary wallet?
Investors can use wallets that support Hedera contract tokens, connected through WalletConnect, or hold through a custodian. A wallet alone is not enough: the investor's address must pass the security's KYC and control-list checks before it can receive tokens, and those approvals can expire under the validity periods the issuer sets.
What does ColdAI deliver on an Asset Tokenization Studio project?
Issuance design that maps the offering's rights and restrictions onto the Studio; integration with KYC and KYB providers, transfer agents, custodians and investor verification flows; primary issuance and, where applicable, connections to regulated secondary venues; and operating procedures for cap-table work, distributions, audit reporting and investor communications. The legal structure stays with your counsel.
Sources
- Asset Tokenization Studio repository (README and architecture) — Hashgraph on GitHub
- ATS capabilities overview — Hashgraph on GitHub
- ATS contract architecture overview — Hashgraph on GitHub
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Your next move
Bring us the
real problem.
A workflow that takes too long. A system that cannot connect. An idea that needs a technical path. Start there, and we can define what to investigate, build and measure.
- Defined asset rights and documentation
- Issuer and administrator stakeholders
- Qualified review of applicable requirements