Taurus expands custody, tokenization services to private blockchains following Deutsche Bank deal

Swiss fintech Taurus has expanded its digital-asset custody and tokenization services to support private blockchains — in addition to public ones.

The move aims to meet growing demand from some of the biggest U.S. and European banks, according to a statement, with the tokenization of private assets predicted to become a multi-trillion dollar market by 2030.

Taurus will support permissioned blockchains, including Hyperledger Besu and Consensys' Quorum, catering to both Ethereum Virtual Machine and non-EVM private blockchains, the firm said.

The expansion means that Taurus' global clients can now tokenize any type of asset on public and private blockchains via the same platform, enabling interoperability benefits of bridging assets between private chains like Hyperledger Besu and Taurus-supported public ones, such as Ethereum, Polygon, Cardano and Tezos – preventing asset silos that hinder liquidity — the firm added. 

"We realized that our clients often manage multiple use cases running across public or permissioned blockchains on different platforms, some of which are custom-made and difficult to maintain," Taurus product head Vassili Lavrov said in the statement. "By providing full public and permissioned blockchain support, we solve this problem, reducing costs and risks for our clients."

Given the strict regulatory landscape, many financial institutions opt for permissioned or private blockchains to retain control over the network. This is evident in projects like the Bank of Thailand and Bank of Brazil's CBDC initiatives and the Bank for International Settlements-led mCBDC bridge project, which are using Hyperledger Besu to build on, Taurus said.

Deutsche Bank deal

Taurus' expansion follows its partnership with the banking giant Deutsche Bank last week, enabling Germany's largest bank — which manages over €1.3 trillion ($1.4 trillion) in assets — to provide digital asset custody and tokenization services to its institutional clients.

"As the digital asset space is expected to encompass trillions of dollars of assets, it’s bound to be seen as one of the priorities for investors and corporations alike," Deutsche Bank Global Head of Securities Services Paul Maley said at the time. "As such, custodians must start adapting to support their clients."

The collaboration followed Deutsche Bank’s participation in Taurus' $65 million Series B funding round and its application for a digital asset license with Germany’s financial regulator BaFin earlier this year.