As the ECB prepares to launch its tokenized settlement infrastructure in Q3 2026 and the MiCA transitional period approaches its July 1 deadline, Swiss fintech Taurus didn’t wait for the cut-off point and has obtained a MiFID II investment firm license almost two months ahead, becoming the first pure infrastructure provider to do so this year.
Taurus SA, the Swiss infrastructure firm behind digital asset custody and tokenization for Deutsche Bank, KBC, Santander, State Street, CACEIS, and others, announced on May 6, 2026 that its Cyprus-based subsidiary Taurus (Europe) Ltd has received an investment firm license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) under MiFID regulation.
The MiFID license allows Taurus (Europe) Ltd to provide investment services related to financial instruments, including tokenized DLT financial instruments such as bonds, equities, fund shares, and structured products. Once passporting procedures are complete, it will be authorized to serve clients in all 27 EU member states.
This is separate from Taurus SA’s existing FINMA securities firm license, obtained in Switzerland in 2021.
Unlike other MiFID licenses issued to digital asset firms in 2025, which have gone to consumer exchanges seeking derivatives access, Taurus does not serve retail clients, focusing on major financial institutions and banks. Its 40+ bank clients can now custody, issue, and trade tokenized instruments across all 27 EU markets via passporting.
Taurus MiFID license timing matters
The license arrives as the ECB advances two parallel tokenization initiatives in response to the growing investment demand. According to recent estimates by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, European issuers have placed close to €4 billion in fixed-income instruments based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) since 2021. ECB believes tokenization technology may prove transformational for the entire industry given the right, secure rails exist.
“Rather than improving just one part of a system, these technologies reframe the logic of the system as a whole. By issuing or representing assets in the form of digital tokens[5] that are typically recorded on DLT networks, tokenisation allows the full life cycle of a transaction – issuance, trading, settlement and custody – to take place within a single digital environment that is available 24/7. Tokenisation can provide a single, shared source of truth, avoiding the need to reconcile multiple proprietary ledgers. And it enables processes such as coupon payments to be automated through smart contracts. This has the potential to simplify access to finance, enhance financial services and reduce costs.”
Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, said at the 24th Annual Symposium on “Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: an Agenda for Europe and the United States” in April
The ECB’s Pontes project, which aims to bridge market DLT platforms with the Eurosystem’s TARGET settlement infrastructure, is scheduled to launch in Q3 2026. From September, the ECB will offer tokenized central bank money settlement for DLT-based transactions as part of Pontes.
Meanwhile, the MiCA transitional period, that allowed crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) already operating in EU member states before MiCA came into force to keep operating while they applied for a proper MiCA license, closes July 1, 2026. Taurus is the first pure infrastructure provider to clear MiFID before that deadline.
“The MiFID license is an important step in our European strategy,” said Sébastien Dessimoz, co-founder and Managing Partner at Taurus. “It allows us to support EU-based entities within a clear regulatory framework as they scale their digital and tokenized asset activities. The license enables Taurus to offer MiFID-regulated investment services for DLT financial instruments to banks and asset managers across the EU, supporting issuance, custody, and trading for tokenized shares, bonds, fund shares, and structured products under one roof. “
Out of the broad variety of digital financial assets available for European institutional investors, Mr. Dessimoz singles out several most popular investing vehicles that are likely to gain traction in the EU: “onchain asset preference clusters in two categories. First, tokenized short-duration fixed income (money market and treasuries) as yield-bearing cash equivalents, with the ECB Macroprudential Bulletin examining tokenized MMFs directly in its April issue. Second, tokenized bonds: the BIS finds tighter bid-ask spreads on tokenized formats than conventional issuance.”
About Taurus SA leadership changes
Taurus (Europe) Ltd has formed a Board of Directors for its Cyprus entity. Named Non-Executive Directors include Lino Finini, former COO and Executive Committee member at Swissquote, and George Psomas. The Board brings together Taurus representatives and independent members with deep expertise in financial services, in line with local requirements.
Taurus SA was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in Switzerland. It operates 14 offices globally and provides digital asset infrastructure services covering issuance, custody, and trading of cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, and stablecoins.
Broader regulatory context
The license places Taurus (Europe) Ltd within a growing pool of regulated investment firms in Cyprus. CySEC approved 47 new Cyprus Investment Firm licenses in 2025. Firms licensed by CySEC can offer investment services across the European Economic Area without the need for additional licenses in each member state — the passporting mechanism Taurus intends to use.
With MiCA effective from December 30, 2024, Cyprus Investment Firms can offer crypto asset services by following a notification process, without needing a separate license from CySEC — a structural change that makes the CIF license more practical for firms operating across both traditional financial instruments and digital assets.
On the settlement side, the Eurosystem began accepting DLT-based assets as eligible collateral for credit operations in March 2026, a step that precedes the broader Pontes launch. ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone has warned that tokenized deposits and stablecoins will only scale if they rest on tokenized central bank money as a public settlement anchor.
The article was updated on May 7 with additional commentary of Sébastien Dessimoz, co-founder and Managing Partner at Taurus.
