Overview
ISO 23257:2022 - Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies - Reference architecture - defines a vendor‑neutral reference architecture for Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) systems, including blockchain systems. The standard documents core concepts, functional components, roles, activities and relationships, plus cross‑cutting aspects and architectural considerations. It provides architecture views to help designers, developers and decision‑makers build interoperable, secure and maintainable DLT solutions.
Key topics and technical focus
ISO 23257:2022 covers a broad set of technical subjects that are central to any DLT or blockchain project:
- DLT concepts: definitions for blockchain vs non‑blockchain DLT, networking, platform and interfaces.
- Consensus and transactions: how agreement and transaction processing are represented in an architecture.
- Smart contracts: execution models and placement (dedicated vs arbitrary peers).
- Ledger integrity and management: integrity of ledger content, storage, subchains/sidechains and ledger subsetting.
- Cross‑cutting aspects: security, identity, privacy (on‑ledger and off‑ledger PII), governance, management, interoperability and data flow.
- Architectural considerations: ledger technology selection, storage and control architectures, permissioning and ledger partitioning.
- Architecture views: a multi‑view reference (including user, functional and system views) to model roles, APIs, platform layers and infrastructure.
These topics form a practical blueprint rather than prescriptive implementation rules - useful for high‑level design, requirement definition and alignment across stakeholders.
Practical applications
ISO 23257:2022 is suited to real‑world activities such as:
- Defining the architecture for enterprise blockchain pilots and production DLT systems.
- Creating procurement and vendor evaluation criteria that map to architecture layers and required functions.
- Aligning stakeholders (developers, auditors, regulators, business owners) with a common vocabulary and component model.
- Designing interoperability and integration strategies between DLTs and legacy systems.
- Assessing privacy, identity and governance controls as part of risk and compliance programs.
Who should use this standard
- Enterprise and solution architects designing DLT systems
- Blockchain developers and platform providers
- IT managers, security and privacy officers
- Auditors, regulators and governance bodies
- System integrators and procurement teams
Related standards
ISO 23257:2022 was developed by ISO/TC 307 (Blockchain and distributed ledger technologies). It complements other ISO/TC 307 work on terminology, interoperability, privacy and security for DLT implementations.
Keywords: ISO 23257:2022, blockchain reference architecture, DLT architecture, distributed ledger standard, smart contracts, consensus, ledger integrity, DLT interoperability, blockchain governance.