Growing tradFi partnerships open door to retail access for tokenized securities
Deutsche Bank-backed Taurus recently received approval from FINMA to offer tokenized securities to retail investors via the TDX marketplace. Lamine Brahimi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Switzerland-based Taurus, explained the regulatory challenges and the process of navigating them. CryptoSlate.
Taurus has focused on developing enterprise-level technology and processes since April 2018. Demonstrating compliance, anti-money laundering measures and investor protection were critical to approval; enabling safe and compliant access, investment and trading of digital securities on TDX.
Brahimi envisions tokenization making buying company stock as simple as buying a book online. He believes the digitization of private markets could significantly impact the financial sector. However, obstacles remain, such as the adoption of global tokenization standards, regulated secondary markets, and large-scale tokenized cash solutions. Taurus is addressing these issues with strategic initiatives, including chairing the Technology Committee of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) in Switzerland, launching TDX, and scaling clients’ digital asset businesses globally.
Strategic partnerships with leading banks such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and AMINA Bank have been integral to Taurus’ success. These collaborations focus on providing future-proof technology and a platform to manage a variety of digital assets. Brahimi emphasizes the importance of technology control and client demand for innovative digital asset products. Despite the hype around AI, regulatory environments and client interest in tokenized assets remain strong, with 80% of clients using Taurus’ tokenization platform alongside their custody solutions.
Looking ahead, Brahimi predicts that tokenization will become more widespread as regulatory frameworks tighten and institutional adoption increases.
Taurus recently received approval from FINMA to offer tokenized securities to retail investors via the TDX marketplace. Can you explain the regulatory challenges you faced and how Taurus navigated the approval process? What impact do you think this development will have on democratizing access to these assets?
Since its inception in April 2018, Taurus has focused on developing a robust organization with enterprise-grade technology and processes. The challenges were many and the standards were extremely high. We had to show the regulator and our auditors that Taurus met stringent criteria for technological and security readiness, compliance, anti-money laundering measures, and investor protection.
This allows retail, professional and institutional investors to securely and compliantly access, invest in and trade the full range of digital securities accepted on TDX.
You’ve outlined your vision of making it as easy to buy stock in a company as it is to buy a book on Amazon. Can you elaborate on the potential impact of tokenization on traditional financial markets? What are the key barriers to widespread adoption, and how is Taurus working to overcome them?
Taurus’ core belief is that to grow the digital asset industry to ten trillion, private markets (private equity, private debt, and other real asset classes) must be digitized. Why? Because unlike public markets, which are already electronic, their infrastructure is still mostly paper-based.
Regulation is becoming increasingly constructive but the main barriers to widespread adoption are (i) adoption of global tokenization standards (ii) regulated secondary markets (iii) mega custodians entering the space (iv) large-scale tokenized cash solutions beyond USD, i.e., denominated in EUR, CHF, GBP, Yen etc. so that both the security leg and the cash leg are on-chain.
We have taken modest but concrete steps to address these challenges. Among them, Taurus chairs the Technology Committee (Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson) of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) in Switzerland. This group is responsible for defining tokenization (CMTAT) and custody standards to facilitate the adoption of distributed ledger technology. We also launched TDX, one of the first global regulated marketplaces to increase liquidity for tokenized securities. We also help some of our largest clients scale their digital asset businesses globally.
Taurus has established strategic partnerships with many leading banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and AMINA Bank. What motivated these collaborations and what challenges did you face in integrating traditional finance with crypto? How do you see these partnerships evolving in the future?
When considering entering the digital asset space, banks generally consider two main dimensions:
You have a unique background in that you have worked in both traditional finance and the crypto industry. What motivated your move into the crypto space and how did your experience in traditional finance inform your approach to Taurus?
I was trained as an engineer EPFL In Switzerland. I transitioned into business, but before founding Taurus, I was always close to innovation in the financial markets, having led the digital transformation of the bank I was working for. Long story short, one day in 2016, I was asked to give an introduction to blockchain and Bitcoin to some clients, and it was a revelation.
My co-founders and I have always believed that distributed ledger technologies will increasingly and positively impact our economy, starting with financial markets whose infrastructure was designed decades ago, and that eventually traditional assets and digital assets will be managed everywhere.
That’s why we officially launched Taurus in 2018. The existing infrastructure didn’t meet our needs or the needs of the banks we knew so well. So we started building it from scratch and with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, we made a name for ourselves in the industry.
Taurus has been at the forefront of tokenization efforts, working with several Swiss companies to tokenize their assets. Can you share some success stories or challenges you’ve faced along the way? How do you see the tokenization landscape evolving in the coming years?
There are many. Some of these include trade finance transactions where we tokenize end-to-end with Horizon Capital and SCCF, trade finance specialists based in Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Another example is our collaboration with Cité Gestion, the first private bank in the world to tokenize its stocks. Another success story is our work with Qoqa, a community-based e-commerce company with close to 1 million customers, where we helped them raise CHF 1 million for their community-owned project in just 22 minutes. We helped Qoqa issue stock tokens representing their ownership stake in the subsidiary, and helped community members become direct stakeholders in the project.
Looking ahead, we envision tokenization becoming mainstream in private equity markets. As regulatory frameworks solidify and institutional adoption increases, we expect to see an increase in tokenized real-world assets. This will lead to greater liquidity, fractional ownership opportunities, and more efficient trading of traditionally illiquid assets. Our partnerships with companies like Swissroc in real estate and SCCF in trade finance are just the beginning. I look forward to our partnerships with major custodians; you will see tokenized funds in the market and on TDX soon.
Contact Lamine Brahimi
#Growing #tradFi #partnerships #open #door #retail #access #tokenized #securities
Deutsche Bank-backed Taurus recently received approval from FINMA to offer tokenized securities to retail investors via the TDX marketplace. Lamine Brahimi, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Switzerland-based Taurus, explained the regulatory challenges and the process of navigating them. CryptoSlate.
Taurus has focused on developing enterprise-level technology and processes since April 2018. Demonstrating compliance, anti-money laundering measures and investor protection were critical to approval; enabling safe and compliant access, investment and trading of digital securities on TDX.
Brahimi envisions tokenization making buying company stock as simple as buying a book online. He believes the digitization of private markets could significantly impact the financial sector. However, obstacles remain, such as the adoption of global tokenization standards, regulated secondary markets, and large-scale tokenized cash solutions. Taurus is addressing these issues with strategic initiatives, including chairing the Technology Committee of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) in Switzerland, launching TDX, and scaling clients’ digital asset businesses globally.
Strategic partnerships with leading banks such as Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and AMINA Bank have been integral to Taurus’ success. These collaborations focus on providing future-proof technology and a platform to manage a variety of digital assets. Brahimi emphasizes the importance of technology control and client demand for innovative digital asset products. Despite the hype around AI, regulatory environments and client interest in tokenized assets remain strong, with 80% of clients using Taurus’ tokenization platform alongside their custody solutions.
Looking ahead, Brahimi predicts that tokenization will become more widespread as regulatory frameworks tighten and institutional adoption increases.
Taurus recently received approval from FINMA to offer tokenized securities to retail investors via the TDX marketplace. Can you explain the regulatory challenges you faced and how Taurus navigated the approval process? What impact do you think this development will have on democratizing access to these assets?
Since its inception in April 2018, Taurus has focused on developing a robust organization with enterprise-grade technology and processes. The challenges were many and the standards were extremely high. We had to show the regulator and our auditors that Taurus met stringent criteria for technological and security readiness, compliance, anti-money laundering measures, and investor protection.
This allows retail, professional and institutional investors to securely and compliantly access, invest in and trade the full range of digital securities accepted on TDX.
You’ve outlined your vision of making it as easy to buy stock in a company as it is to buy a book on Amazon. Can you elaborate on the potential impact of tokenization on traditional financial markets? What are the key barriers to widespread adoption, and how is Taurus working to overcome them?
Taurus’ core belief is that to grow the digital asset industry to ten trillion, private markets (private equity, private debt, and other real asset classes) must be digitized. Why? Because unlike public markets, which are already electronic, their infrastructure is still mostly paper-based.
Regulation is becoming increasingly constructive but the main barriers to widespread adoption are (i) adoption of global tokenization standards (ii) regulated secondary markets (iii) mega custodians entering the space (iv) large-scale tokenized cash solutions beyond USD, i.e., denominated in EUR, CHF, GBP, Yen etc. so that both the security leg and the cash leg are on-chain.
We have taken modest but concrete steps to address these challenges. Among them, Taurus chairs the Technology Committee (Dr. Jean-Philippe Aumasson) of the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) in Switzerland. This group is responsible for defining tokenization (CMTAT) and custody standards to facilitate the adoption of distributed ledger technology. We also launched TDX, one of the first global regulated marketplaces to increase liquidity for tokenized securities. We also help some of our largest clients scale their digital asset businesses globally.
Taurus has established strategic partnerships with many leading banks, including Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and AMINA Bank. What motivated these collaborations and what challenges did you face in integrating traditional finance with crypto? How do you see these partnerships evolving in the future?
When considering entering the digital asset space, banks generally consider two main dimensions:
- Banks want a technology partner that is ready for the future. In a rapidly evolving innovation environment, the risk of technology becoming obsolete is high. Therefore, it is critical to choose a technology provider that controls the entire technology stack, including the most complex cryptography, software, hardware, distributed systems and systems. At Toros, we have been able to build exactly that.
- They also want a platform that allows them to manage all digital assets beyond cryptocurrencies, such as tokenized assets (of any kind), digital currencies, etc. Taurus has become the first provider to allow clients to manage any digital asset on both public and permissioned blockchains.
You have a unique background in that you have worked in both traditional finance and the crypto industry. What motivated your move into the crypto space and how did your experience in traditional finance inform your approach to Taurus?
I was trained as an engineer EPFL In Switzerland. I transitioned into business, but before founding Taurus, I was always close to innovation in the financial markets, having led the digital transformation of the bank I was working for. Long story short, one day in 2016, I was asked to give an introduction to blockchain and Bitcoin to some clients, and it was a revelation.
My co-founders and I have always believed that distributed ledger technologies will increasingly and positively impact our economy, starting with financial markets whose infrastructure was designed decades ago, and that eventually traditional assets and digital assets will be managed everywhere.
That’s why we officially launched Taurus in 2018. The existing infrastructure didn’t meet our needs or the needs of the banks we knew so well. So we started building it from scratch and with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck, we made a name for ourselves in the industry.
Taurus has been at the forefront of tokenization efforts, working with several Swiss companies to tokenize their assets. Can you share some success stories or challenges you’ve faced along the way? How do you see the tokenization landscape evolving in the coming years?
There are many. Some of these include trade finance transactions where we tokenize end-to-end with Horizon Capital and SCCF, trade finance specialists based in Luxembourg and Switzerland.
Another example is our collaboration with Cité Gestion, the first private bank in the world to tokenize its stocks. Another success story is our work with Qoqa, a community-based e-commerce company with close to 1 million customers, where we helped them raise CHF 1 million for their community-owned project in just 22 minutes. We helped Qoqa issue stock tokens representing their ownership stake in the subsidiary, and helped community members become direct stakeholders in the project.
Looking ahead, we envision tokenization becoming mainstream in private equity markets. As regulatory frameworks solidify and institutional adoption increases, we expect to see an increase in tokenized real-world assets. This will lead to greater liquidity, fractional ownership opportunities, and more efficient trading of traditionally illiquid assets. Our partnerships with companies like Swissroc in real estate and SCCF in trade finance are just the beginning. I look forward to our partnerships with major custodians; you will see tokenized funds in the market and on TDX soon.
Contact Lamine Brahimi
#Growing #tradFi #partnerships #open #door #retail #access #tokenized #securities