“It was important for our bank to be among the first to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by Swiss law for the digitization of securities by tokenizing our shares,” explains Christophe Utelli, Deputy Managing Director of Cité Gestion.
Taurus, a European leader in digital asset infrastructure for banks, and Cité Gestion, an independent Swiss private bank, are pleased to announce that the latter has become the first private bank in the world to tokenize its equity capital with the support of Taurus.
First private bank to tokenize its shares under Swiss law
Taurus and Cité Gestion are pleased to announce that Cité Gestion, an independent Swiss private bank headquartered in Geneva, has partnered with Taurus to digitize its share capital in the form of registered securities, a process commonly referred to as “tokenisation”. The tokenization of the bank’s shares was carried out according to Swiss laws and standards established by the Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA), a Swiss non-profit organization based in Geneva, whose goal is to promote the use of blockchain technologies in traditional capital markets.
The tokenization process could be completed in minutes thanks to Taurus’ tokenization platform, Taurus-CAPITAL. The digital securities were created using the CMTAT standard, an open source smart contract published by the CMTA and specifically designed for the tokenization of securities, and deployed on Ethereum, a public blockchain. Pending its full entry into the digital assets sector, Cité Gestion has also chosen Taurus to manage the smart-contract and the entire life cycle of its securities.
Lenz & Staehelin, the Swiss law firm, advised Cité Gestion on the legal and regulatory aspects of the transaction.
Christophe Utelli, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Cité Gestion, underlines: “At Cité Gestion, our vision is to enable our clients to take full advantage of technological advances in the capital markets, and in particular the enormous rationalization and earnings potential of efficiency offered by blockchain technology in this sector. It was important for our bank to be among the first to take advantage of the new possibilities offered by Swiss law for the digitization of securities by tokenizing our shares. The CMTA standard was a natural fit for tokenization: open-source, verified, and industry-recognized. Taurus and the use of CMTA standards ensure optimal risk management throughout the process”.
2023 is the year of tokenization: accelerating the digitization of private assets
Sébastien Dessimoz, co-founder and managing partner of Taurus says: “We are happy to partner with Cité Gestion for the tokenization of their shares. We participated in the tokenization of 15 companies last year, covering a wide range of assets. Nearly half come from regulated institutions or bodies. We believe that 2023 will see an acceleration in the sector and we are ready to accompany private companies to take the plunge”.
Taurus believes that the digitization of private assets and securities will become a new normal in the digital asset industry. In line with his belief, Taurus has developed a complete technology stack for its customers; including a tokenization platform, digital asset custody, blockchain node operation; supplemented by a FINMA authorization for trading in tokenized securities. To date, Taurus has been involved in 15 transactions involving shares, private debt, structured products of Swiss and European companies.