Taurus launches private token standard for banks

Swiss blockchain startup Taurus has released what it describes as an open-source token standard for debt and equity transactions in a move designed to boost the digital assets market.

Taurus SA, a global leader in digital asset infrastructure, announced the publication of an open-source confidential token standard for debt and equity tokenization in collaboration with the Aztec Foundation. „This initiative marks a significant step forward in enabling financial institutions to issue tokenized versions of financial instruments on public blockchains while maintaining strong privacy expectations of their customers.” – according to the press release. 

The smart contract is designed to give asset issuers powerful and explicit control over who can see what information about assets issued on public blockchains, without sacrificing compliance. Built on Aztec’s cutting-edge technology, the contract leverages Aztec’s upcoming Layer-2 protocol powered by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to retain all the programmability and asset composability customers expect on blockchains in a fully confidential way.

Written in Noir, an open-source programming language for building ZK applications, with a Rust-like syntax, the code implements a private version of the CMTAT security token. This advancement enables banks and financial institutions to tokenize assets securely and privately, ensuring that applicable compliance requirements can be built in and automated. This addresses a major concern for privacy and regulatory alignment in public blockchain environments.

Taurus Chief Security Officer JP Aumasson, who led this initiative, remarked: “Tokenizing financial instruments on public blockchains unlocks immense potential. By enabling private, compliant transfers, we bridge the gap between institutional needs and decentralized technologies. This project underscores Taurus’ dedication to secure, innovative, and open solutions for digital finance.”

Aztec Foundation, Executive Director and board member, Arnaud Schenk also highlighted the importance of this collaboration: “Privacy is foundational for financial institutions to adopt blockchain technology at scale. A fully private CMTAT standard as implemented by Taurus represents an important milestone for the industry and demonstrates how on-chain programs can meet both institutional and regulatory requirements. Aztec has been building cryptographic tools to bring real-world assets onto public blockchains since 2017, and we are thrilled to see Taurus’ successful leveraging of Noir and of Aztec’s Layer-2.”

The open-source code is now available for public access and testing on GitHub: https://github.com/taurushq-io/private-CMTAT-aztec.

This initiative reflects a shared vision of promoting innovation, privacy, and compliance in the digital asset ecosystem.

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The Aztec Foundation is a nonprofit organization that supports the growth and development of open-source programmable privacy. As the steward of the Aztec Network, the Foundation conducts fundamental research in freedom-enhancing cryptography. It also provides ancillary support to builders developing innovative applications that protect user privacy, enable compliance, and maintains Noir, the universal language for zero-knowledge proofs.

Taurus SA is a Swiss company, founded in April 2018, that provides enterprise-grade digital asset infrastructure to issue, custody, and trade any digital assets: cryptocurrencies, tokenized assets, NFTs, and digital currencies. With more than a 50% market share in Switzerland, it is a global leader in the banking segment, entrusted by the full spectrum of financial institutions: systemic banks, universal banks, online banks, crypto-banks, private banks, and broker-dealers. Taurus also operates a marketplace for private assets and tokenized securities.