Digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus is stepping up its tokenization efforts in Europe through a full integration with the Polygon blockchain, the company announced on June 2.
The move comes three months after Taurus raised $65 million in a funding round, and will allow its clients to automatically issue digital securities. Taurus claims to have over 25 clients across nine countries, including Arab Bank Switzerland, CACEIS Bank, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Pictet, Swissquote, Vontobel.
A Taurus spokesperson told Cointelegraph that debt, funds, and structured products are among the most popular assets for tokenization, though the demand varies depending on local regulations. Picking Polygon was a “natural choice to benefit from the Ethereum network,” it continued.
“The tokenization of real-world assets is a no-brainer at the root of the idea. The challenge is and always has been to build sufficiently advanced infrastructure to enable it,” Colin Butler, global head of institutional capital at Polygon Labs, said in a statement.
A tokenization process involves converting something tangible or intangible into a digital token. Tokenizing tangible assets such as real estate, stocks, or art is possible. It is also possible to tokenize intangible assets such as loyalty points and voting rights, as previously reported by Cointelegraph.
Enabling banks and brands to issue and custody any tokenized asset using @0xpolygon@taurus_hq, the European digital asset infrastructure leader is now fully integrated and automated #onPolygon
More: https://t.co/U2tT0azjkG pic.twitter.com/urFCzXN8eg
— Polygon (Labs) (@0xPolygonLabs) June 2, 2023
Asset tokenization is one of the trends driving the blending of traditional finance with Web3 solutions across Europe. The United Kingdom’s central bank is exploring ways in which tokenized assets will interact with bank money, non-bank money, and central bank money, according to its deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe in February. It may also be possible in the near future for tokenized transactions to be synchronized with the British central bank’s real-time payment system, Cunliffe said. In Germany, banks are slowly embracing crypto solutions, mostly through tokenization-related products and services for institutional investors.
Taurus secured a $65 million Series B fund led by Credit Suisse in February, joined by several other institutional investors, including Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group, Cedar Mundi Ventures, Arab Bank Switzerland, and Investis.
At the time, the company said the capital would be used for growth strategy in three primary areas: recruiting engineering talent, security and compliance, as well as expanding sales in Europe, the United Arab Emirates, Americas and Southeast Asia.
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