Taurus expands Europe footprint after Deutsche Bank link-up

Taurus, a crypto infrastructure provider that recently partnered with Deutsche Bank, is bolstering its presence in Europe.

Switzerland-based Taurus, which offers infrastructure to issue, custody and trade crypto, tokenized assets and NFTs, is opening offices in London and Paris. The firm says it expects more of the region’s banks to wade into the crypto space as the regulatory environment becomes more clear. 

The expansion is part of a bid to better serve institutions that will soon have to comply with the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA). The European Union Parliament passed the framework in April, with implementation expected next year. 

Read more: EU’s MiCA framework could help crypto firms get banked

Jürgen Hofbauer, previously Taurus’s global head of strategic partnerships, will lead the London office. He spent more than 10 years at Bank of America, where he served as head of sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Arnaud Fleisher will lead the company’s growth out of Paris. Fleisher previously held sales leadership positions at companies including software giant SAP.

Taurus raised $65 million in a February funding round led by Credit Suisse. Deutsche Bank also took part in that round, and the German megabank linked up with Taurus last month to build out digital asset custody and tokenization services. 

German-based Deutsche Bank said the Taurus partnership would allow it to initially offer custody of “selected cryptocurrencies and some stablecoins” for corporate and institutional clients, as well as the ability to tokenize traditional financial securities.

Aside from Deutsche Bank, Taurus’ European clients include CACEIS, Credit Suisse, Banque Delubac and Groupe Pernod Ricard, Hofbauer told Blockworks. 

The firm is set to announce new large partnerships soon with systemic banks across all regions, including the US and Asia.

“We follow our clients’ footprint to stay close to them and add local expertise,” Hofbauer said. “We are looking to expand in selected financial centers in the Americas, Middle East and Asia regions. We will make announcements soon.”

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