Hierarchical digital issuance tokens and claim tokens
In a first tier of a hierarchy, a record is maintained of assets issued or otherwise made available by an issuer. The available assets may be distributed between accounts within the first tier. Ownership of the assets is recorded on a distributed ledger. One or more of the first-tier accounts may be held by first tier investors (such as institutional investors) that buy and hold some of the available assets as a direct/primary investment. One or more other first-tier accounts may be client omnibus accounts operated by financial institutions that hold a portion of the available assets and make those assets available to be invested in by second-tier accounts. Interests in the assets made available for investment by second-tier accounts are recorded on the distributed ledger. In some instances, second-tier accounts can offer investment in the interests the second-tier accounts hold to third-tier accounts, and third-tier accounts can offer interests to fourth tier accounts, etc.
1 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
establishing, by one or more computing devices, custody of a digital asset by a first data object in a first tier of a hierarchy of tiers in a distributed ledger;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a request to assign an ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset to a second data object in a second tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger, wherein the second data object includes an identifier of the first data object and has access permissions that enable the first data object to access the second data object while preventing access to the second data object by other data objects in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers;
sending, by the one or more computing devices to a plurality of nodes of the distributed ledger, a request to verify that the first data object has custody of the digital asset;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices from at least a threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, verification of custody of the digital asset by the first data object; and
responsive to the receiving the verification from at least the threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, storing, by the one or more computing devices in the second data object, a token representing the ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset for which the first data object has custody.
2 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object verifies custody of the digital asset using a digital signature of a registrar confirming that the first data object has custody of the digital asset.
3 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein an owner of the first data object on the distributed ledger also has a risk account to hold one or more additional instances of the digital asset on behalf of the owner of the first data object, the risk account being a third data object in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger.
4 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second data object is one of a plurality of tiered accounts in the hierarchy of tiers, wherein each account in the hierarchy includes tokens representing ownership or beneficial interests in an immediately preceding tier of the hierarchy.
5 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the token representing the ownership or beneficial interest includes a digital signature of a custodian associated with the first data object.
6 . The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, from a third data object in a third tier of the hierarchy of tiers, a request to assign an ownership or beneficial interest in the token to the third data object;
verifying that the token is signed with the digital signature of the custodian; and
responsive to the token being signed with the digital signature of the custodian, assigning, to the third data object, the ownership or beneficial interest in the token, wherein the ownership or beneficial interest in the token is one of a plurality of ownership or beneficial interests in the token assigned to different tier-three data objects in the distributed ledger.
7 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset is assigned to the second data object without modifying any data objects in the first tier of the hierarchy.
8 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the digital assets were issued by an issuer and credited to an issuer account, the issuer account comprising an issuer data object in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger, the issuer account serving as a transactional account to hold the digital asset when the asset is first originated in the distributed ledger while not having custody of the digital asset.
9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the second data object is one of a plurality of tier-two data objects, the plurality of tier-two data objects recording ownership or beneficial interests in different instances of the digital asset for which the first data object has custody.
10 . The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the first data object and the second data objects are smart contracts.
11 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer program instructions that, when executed, cause a computing system to perform operations comprising:
establishing, by one or more computing devices, custody of a digital asset by a first data object in a first tier of a hierarchy of tiers in a distributed ledger;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a request to assign an ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset to a second data object in a second tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger, wherein the second data object includes an identifier of the first data object and has access permissions that enable the first data object to access the second data object while preventing access to the second data object by other data objects in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers;
sending, by the one or more computing devices to a plurality of nodes of the distributed ledger, a request to verify that the first data object has custody of the digital asset;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices from at least a threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, verification of custody of the digital asset by the first data object; and
responsive to the receiving the verification from at least the threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, storing, by the one or more computing devices in the second data object, a token representing the ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset for which the first data object has custody.
12 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the first data object verifies custody of the digital asset using a digital signature of a registrar confirming that the first data object has custody of the digital asset.
13 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein an owner of the first data object on the distributed ledger also has a risk account to hold one or more additional instances of the digital asset on behalf of the owner of the first data object, the risk account being a third data object in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger.
14 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the second data object is one of a plurality of tiered accounts in the hierarchy of tiers, wherein each account in the hierarchy includes tokens representing ownership or beneficial interests in an immediately preceding tier of the hierarchy.
15 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the token representing the ownership or beneficial interest includes a digital signature of a custodian associated with the first data object.
16 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, from a third data object in a third tier of the hierarchy of tiers, a request to assign an ownership or beneficial interest in the token to the third data object;
verifying that the token is signed with the digital signature of the custodian; and
responsive to the token being signed with the digital signature of the custodian, assigning, to the third data object, the ownership or beneficial interest in the token, wherein the ownership or beneficial interest in the token is one of a plurality of ownership or beneficial interests in the token assigned to different tier-three data objects in the distributed ledger.
17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset is assigned to the second data object without modifying any data objects in the first tier of the hierarchy.
18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the digital assets were issued by an issuer and credited to an issuer account, the issuer account comprising an issuer data object in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger, the issuer account serving as a transactional account to hold the digital asset when the asset is first originated in the distributed ledger while not having custody of the digital asset.
19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11 , wherein the second data object is one of a plurality of tier-two data objects, the plurality of tier-two data objects recording ownership or beneficial interests in different instances of the digital asset for which the first data object has custody.
20 . A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations including:
establishing, by one or more computing devices, custody of a digital asset by a first data object in a first tier of a hierarchy of tiers in a distributed ledger;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a request to assign an ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset to a second data object in a second tier of the hierarchy of tiers in the distributed ledger, wherein the second data object includes an identifier of the first data object and has access permissions that enable the first data object to access the second data object while preventing access to the second data object by other data objects in the first tier of the hierarchy of tiers;
sending, by the one or more computing devices to a plurality of nodes of the distributed ledger, a request to verify that the first data object has custody of the digital asset;
receiving, by the one or more computing devices from at least a threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, verification of custody of the digital asset by the first data object; and
responsive to the receiving the verification from at least the threshold amount of the plurality of nodes, storing, by the one or more computing devices in the second data object, a token representing the ownership or beneficial interest in the digital asset for which the first data object has custody.