Swiss digital asset solution company Taurus SA has integrated Tezos’ FA1.2 and FA2 smart contract standards into its digital asset infrastructure solutions. With this integration, banks and issuers are now able to custody and process Tezos-based tokenized assets on Taurus’ digital asset custody solution Taurus-PROTECT.
Taurus announced the integration in a press release on Wednesday, April 7th. The relationship between Taurus and Tezos ecosystem is not new. According to the announcement, the recent collaboration is the third step of several strategic initiatives.
The Tezos Foundation first entered into strategic cooperation with the Taurus Group in Q4 of 2019 to grow the Tezos ecosystem and provide secure access to the Tezos blockchain to potential issuers of security tokens. Then in February of 2020, Taurus announced that it had successfully integrated the Tezos protocol into its digital asset infrastructure that includes Taurus-PROTECT, its leading digital asset custody solution for banks, asset managers, and exchanges, as well as Taurus-EXPLORER, its blockchain as a service connectivity infrastructure.
In April of 2020, the Taurus group raised $10M in series A funding round led by Switzerland-based Arab Bank and participation from Tezos Foundation. In this third phase of strategic partnership, Taurus has integrated Tezos’ FA1.2 and FA2 token standards into its Taurus-PROTECT custody solution and Taurus-EXPLORER.
With this, Taurus’ clients that include investment banks, private banks, crypto-banks, universal banks, and marketplaces are now able to take advantage of the full Tezos protocol capabilities. They can now manage Tezos native cryptocurrency XTZ, collect staking rewards on Tezos, capturing additional yields in low-interest-rate environments, and manage “both FA1.2 and FA2 smart contracts opening door to tokenized assets.”
Taurus, founded in 2018, is specialized in digital assets and blockchain, offering enterprise-grade financial market infrastructure solutions for digital assets as well as other financial services to its clients. According to the digital asset manager, several banking clients, including crypto-banks and private banks, have already adopted Taurus’ end-to-end Tezos implementation.
JP Aumasson, Taurus co-founder and Chief Security Officer, stated:
“We are pleased to continue delivering on the agreed roadmap and empowering our clients to manage Tezos tokenized assets, in addition to XTZ native crypto-currency and baking capabilities. Integrating Tezos FA1.2 and FA2 smart contract standards is very timely as several institutional Tezos-based projects are about to be launched.”
Hubertus Thonhauser, Chairman of Tezos Foundation Council, commented:
“We are excited to see that Taurus has made Tezos smart contracts available to their network of clients, allowing them to manage a wide range of Tezos-based tokenized assets. Taurus has a proven track record developing enterprise-grade financial market infrastructure and this latest integration is welcome news for the Tezos ecosystem.”
