# Comparing Blockchain Standards and Recommendations
## 4 Selected Standards
### International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  
The _ITU-T Focus Group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology_, founded in May 2017, has published a number of technical specifications and reports concerning the terminology, architecture and perspectives of blockchains and distributed ledger technology, as well as a proposed framework. * FG DLT D1.1 [30]: Their first publication is a technical specification about terminology and definitions for distributed ledger technology. This document includes example figures to underline some definitions. It is appended by a short overview of the functionality of the distributed ledger technology. * Pros: The provided terminology is a good starting point to understand the elements and components of a blockchain. Cons: It's preliminary use is to serve as a guiding reference for the other documents of the working group. * FG DLT D1.2 [31]: This document is titled _Distributed ledger overview, concepts, ecosystem_ and it does exactly that, providing an overview of the technology and its components. The main focus of this document is centered around discussing the distributed ledger ecosystem and its aspects. It can be useful to get more familiar with the overall topic. Pros: New readers will get a broad overview of distributed ledger systems. Cons: It is not particularly suitable for experienced readers. * FG DLT D2.1 [1]: In their technical report about distributed ledger technology use cases ITU starts with a discussion about possible benefits and competitive advantages for the industry, achieved through the adoption of the distributed ledger technology. This point is then elaborated on by presenting domain slices, both vertically and horizontally, where the authors describe potential room for adoption of distributed ledger technologies in various sectors and fields of application. Additionally, ITU states their concerns and considerations on adoption barriers. The core of this report lies in its comprehensive collection of use cases for the previously mentioned domains. Pros: They offer a substantial list of sector specific use cases for distributed ledger systems. Cons: It is simply an overview and offers no guidance. * FG DLT D3.1 [32]: This technical specification contains a full _reference architecture for distributed ledger systems_, which serves as a guiding tool for both, new users and service providers of distributed ledger technology alike. Each element or component is described in according depth and detail, including a generalized overview of architectural information. Pros: The provided reference architecture offers a substantial outlook on how a DLT-system can be implemented. Cons: Legal and other compliance requirements are not considered in this document. * FG DLT D3.3 [33]: In D3.3, _Assessment criteria for distributed ledger platforms_, ITU presents a catalogue of criteria, by which a distributed ledger system can be assessed. The technical specification includes a description on how to use the defined criteria and should serve as a guiding document for distributed ledger technology platform assessment. Pros: They present a number of assessment criteria which can be useful when deciding on a potential use of the technology. Cons: Assessing different platforms themselves is only of use for limited purposes. * FG DLT D4.1 [34]: ITU outlines existing regulatory issues that can slow down the adoption rate of distributed ledger technologies in their _Distributed ledger technology regulatory framework_. A selection of specific DLT attributes is analyzed and coupled with according challenges. Additionally, they provide possible mitigations on how to overcome these regulatory issues. Pros: It is one of the very rare frameworks that actually focuses on regulatory issues. Cons: Information security standards and compliance (i.e. ISO 27k series) is still lacking. * FG DLT D5.1 [35]: This report is the final document of the work of the ITU-T Focus Group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology.