This online copy is presented for educational purposes only. For all official purposes, the formal publication in PDF format prevails.
The member financial institutions of the Alkaimi Ecosystem™ have agreed on the meaning of three terms: digital, digital asset and asset. The members have also agreed on how every publication of the ecosystem treats and uses the three terms. This publication uses each term only in the sense set out below.
Digital
In this publication, “digital” carries the dictionary meaning: relating to devices that work by the principles of electronics, and “composed of data in the form of especially binary digits” (Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, “digital”). The word describes the form of a record. The word does not describe the nature of the thing the record holds.
Digital asset
The term entered United States law in 2015. The Uniform Law Commission's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act defined a digital asset as “an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest”, and excluded any underlying asset or liability unless the underlying asset or liability is itself an electronic record (Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act, 2015, section 2(10)). Congress wrote the term into the Internal Revenue Code in 2021: a digital asset is “any digital representation of value which is recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger or any similar technology as specified by the Secretary” (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Pub. L. 117-58, section 80603; 26 U.S.C. 6045(g)(3)(D)). Congress wrote the tax definition to extend broker information reporting and cash transaction reporting to cryptocurrency transactions (26 U.S.C. 6045 and 6050I). The Internal Revenue Service administers the tax definition.
The Alkaimi Ecosystem's position is that the term “digital asset” is not logical, for four reasons.
First, the law's first use of the term names a record, not an asset. The 2015 definition covers the electronic record and excludes the asset or liability behind the record.
Second, “digital” describes the medium, not the thing. Most money is already bank deposits (McLeay, Radia and Thomas, Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 14 March 2014), and a bank deposit is an electronic record on the bank's own books. The Internal Revenue Service's own definition excludes United States dollars and other government currency, “whether in physical or digital form” (Internal Revenue Service, Frequently asked questions on digital asset transactions). Being digital therefore does not make a thing a digital asset, even in the law that defines the term.
Third, the term covers items defined by what the items lack. The European Central Bank's Crypto-Assets Task Force defines a crypto-asset as an asset recorded in digital form that “does not represent a financial claim on, or a liability of, any identifiable entity” (ECB Occasional Paper No. 223, May 2019).
Fourth, one term does several incompatible jobs. In fiduciary law, the term means any electronic record in which a person has a right or interest. In tax law, the term means value recorded on a cryptographically secured distributed ledger. In the Basel cryptoasset standard, the term covers private digital assets that depend on cryptography and distributed ledger technology (Basel Framework, SCO60.1). In private law, the term means an electronic record capable of control (UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law, 2023).
In this publication, “digital asset” appears in two senses only
The first sense is the market term the cryptocurrency industry adopted for the industry's tokens. The second sense is a term of law, which each statute defines for that statute's own compliance and regulatory purposes.
Asset
In this publication, an asset is a thing that holds value in itself (intrinsic) and is a claim on no one.
In accounting, an asset is “a present economic resource controlled by the entity as a result of past events”, and an economic resource is a right with the potential to produce economic benefits (IFRS Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting, 2018, paragraphs 4.3 and 4.4).
The confusion in the accounting treatment
The accounting definition counts a claim as an asset. A promise to pay is a right, so the promise stands as an asset on the holder's books. The same promise stands as a liability on the books of the party that owes the promise (IFRS Conceptual Framework, paragraph 4.26). Across the financial system, the two entries net to zero. A balance sheet can therefore show promises as assets, and the word “asset” no longer tells the reader whether any value stands behind the entry. A nation's currency and a bank deposit are claims of this kind. Each counts as an asset in accounting, and neither holds value in itself.
The DTA under these terms
The DTA™ is not created by fiat. The value exists before the DTA, in the client's own tangible asset. Alkaimi™'s value recognition method recognizes the existing value, and the Mint issues the DTA as the bearer form of the recognized value, so issuance creates no value (pegisai.com, Underwriting on the platform, in depth). A DTA is a claim on no one.
Digital in form, tangible in value
In the DTA's name, “Digitized” names the form of the record, and “Tangible” names the asset whose value the DTA holds. The asset stays physical, segregated and in custody, while the asset's recognized value moves between accounts (Pegisai Global Holdings, 1 October 2026). The underwriter warrants the existence, title, quantity and recoverability of the asset (pegisai.com, Underwriting on the platform, in depth). A holder may transmute a DTA at the desk into a recognized asset class and take delivery of an asset of that class (pegisai.com, The Model). The DTA is therefore digital in form. The DTA is not a digital asset in the market sense, or under the definitions of law that turn on a distributed ledger.
Where this publication quotes a standard's own term built on “asset”, such as high-quality liquid asset, risk-weighted assets or client assets in custody, the standard's own meaning applies.
The terms at a glance
| Term | In this publication | Source | The DTA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital | Electronic in form; composed of data in binary digits | Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary | Digital in form: a bearer instrument in electronic form |
| Digital asset, market term | The term the cryptocurrency industry adopted for the industry's tokens | Market usage | Not a digital asset in the market sense |
| Digital asset, term of law | Each statute's own defined term, for that statute's purposes | The statute, for example 26 U.S.C. 6045(g)(3)(D) and the 2015 Uniform Act | Outside the definitions that turn on a distributed ledger; classification rests with each member institution’s supervisor |
| Asset, this publication | A thing that holds value in itself (intrinsic) and is a claim on no one | The members of the Alkaimi Ecosystem | Carries one: the client's own tangible asset |
| Asset, accounting | A present economic resource controlled by the entity; includes claims | IFRS Conceptual Framework, 2018, paragraphs 4.3 and 4.4 | Reported under each member institution’s accounting rules |
| Claim | A promise: an asset on the holder's books and a liability on the books of the party that owes the promise | IFRS Conceptual Framework, 2018, paragraphs 4.3 and 4.26 | A DTA is a claim on no one; a contract may oblige a party to deliver DTAs, and the obligation ends when the DTAs move |
An example: a sale paid in DTAs
A sale paid in DTAs shows the difference between a DTA and an obligation to deliver DTAs.
The contract. A seller and a buyer sign a contract for the sale of an item, payable in DTAs. At signature, the seller holds a contractual right to receive DTAs, and the buyer owes DTAs under the contract. The obligation comes from the contract, not from the DTA.
The payment. The buyer instructs the buyer's member institution. The DTAs move, whole or in fractional portions, from the buyer's DTA holding account to the seller's DTA holding account. Ownership passes, and the transfer is tracked and recorded in the title package of each UVU™ moved (Section 2, item 2.1).
The result. The movement extinguishes the buyer's obligation (pegisai.com, The Model). At transfer, the seller holds the DTAs at whole value, free to use, without claim, obligation or counterparty risk.
The contrast. Paid in currency, the buyer's obligation also ends. The seller receives a deposit, and the deposit is a new claim, on the seller's bank (pegisai.com, Part 1). One promise replaces another, and the new promise is the claim this publication sets out to reduce.
Paid in currency, a sale ends in a new claim. Paid in DTAs, a sale ends in finality: value delivered, the obligation extinguished.
A sale paid in DTAs shows the difference between a DTA and an obligation to deliver DTAs.
The contract. A seller and a buyer sign a contract for the sale of an item, payable in DTAs. At signature, the seller holds a contractual right to receive DTAs, and the buyer owes DTAs under the contract. The obligation comes from the contract, not from the DTA.
The payment. The buyer instructs the buyer's member institution. The DTAs move, whole or in fractional portions, from the buyer's DTA holding account to the seller's DTA holding account. Ownership passes, and the transfer is tracked and recorded in the title package of each UVU moved (Section 2, item 2.1).
The result. The movement extinguishes the buyer's obligation (pegisai.com, The Model). At transfer, the seller holds the DTAs at whole value, free to use, without claim, obligation or counterparty risk.
The contrast. Paid in currency, the buyer's obligation also ends. The seller receives a deposit, and the deposit is a new claim, on the seller's bank (pegisai.com, Part 1). One promise replaces another, and the new promise is the claim this publication sets out to reduce.
Paid in currency, a sale ends in a new claim. Paid in DTAs, a sale ends in finality: value delivered, the obligation extinguished.
Pegisai Global Holdings develops, licenses and administers the technology supporting the Alkaimi Financial Ecosystem™: the administrator of an institutional settlement infrastructure, not a standard fintech vendor.
The entire Alkaimi model was designed to address a systemic issue the existing system has been unable to cure on its own: every settlement on a currency rail leaves a claim, and banks hedge those claims with credit default swaps, which are claims too.
The model moves settlement from net debt to gross asset: the value moves, the obligation is extinguished, and the counterparty risk between the banks leaves with the claim.
For central banks and supervisors: Basel III+ compliance recorded in real time, the DTA as Level 1 on Pegisai™'s published position, and risk isolated inside a walled garden.
For member institutions: finality that leaves no open claim, a wind-down of credit default swap books, and custody that becomes liquidity.
The aim: to become an ally to central banks in the mission to stabilize the banking sector, and a clear, compliant blueprint for member institutions to clean up their balance sheets.
The Overview sets out the ecosystem that does this in operation today.