PolicyShareShare this articleCopy link

Crypto custodian Taurus moves straight into EU capital markets with MiFID license in Cyprus

The license allows the firm to offer tokenized financial instruments to EU banks as well as secondary trading for tokenized bonds, fund shares, equities, and structured products.

By Ian Allison|Edited by Omkar Godbole May 6, 2026, 8:00 a.m. 2 min readMake preferred on Cyprus (Miriam Eh/Unsplash)

What to know:

• Taurus has been granted a MiFID II investment license from the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).
• The firm also has a licence from Swiss regulator FINMA, and an EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) application is in the pipeline too.

Cryptocurrency custody firm Taurus has been granted a MiFID II investment license in Cyprus under the regulatory ambit of Mediterranean island’s regulator, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC).

The license enables Taurus to offer MiFID-regulated investment services for tokenized financial instruments to banks and asset managers across the European Union (EU), as well as secondary trading for tokenized bonds, fund shares, equities, and structured products, according to a press release on Wednesday.

“Banks like to face fully regulated entities that are similar to the one they used to work with,” Sébastien Dessimoz, co-founder and Managing Partner at Taurus, said in an interview.

“All the brokers in Europe are MiFID licensed firms, and Taurus is a broker also and now a MiFID licensed firm. So those banks and institutions can be sure we are subject to all the necessary guarantees – on top of that we're onshore in Europe, which is also highly appreciated," he added.

MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II) is the European Union’s core regulatory framework for investment services, trading venues, and financial assets such as equities, bonds, derivatives, and structured products. It is designed for traditional capital markets, meaning a MiFID license effectively allows firms to operate as regulated investment service providers across the EU.

The license, therefore, will help Taurus bridge its crypto-native infrastructure with the regulatory perimeter used by banks and asset managers, allowing it to offer tokenized securities to institutional clients in their preferred format.

Taurus already works on crypto custody and tokenization with the likes of Deutsche Bank, ClearBank, KBC, Santander, State Street, CACEIS, Pictet, and Swissquote. The firm also has a licence from Swiss regulator FINMA, and an EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) application is in the pipeline too, said Dessimoz.

As a fully regulated entity incorporated in Europe, Taurus can offer classical investment services for transferable securities, Dessimoz said, and also give clients the possibility to buy or sell distributed ledger technology (DLT) financial instruments such as tokenized equity, tokenized debt, tokenized fund shares; in other words, crypto-assets that qualify as MiFID financial instruments.

Several other firms, such as OKX, Gemini, Crypto.com, Kraken, Bitstamp, and Perpetuals.com, hold MiFID II licenses.

RegulationMore For You

North Korea terror victims escalate fight to seize $71 million from Aave hack

By Sam Reynolds|Edited by Shaurya Malwa3 hours agoIn a 30-page response filed Tuesday, attorneys for victims of three North Korea terrorism cases reframed the April 18 Aave hack as fraud rather than theft — a distinction that could give the attackers legal title to the borrowed crypto.

What to know:

• Lawyers for victims of North Korean terrorism now argue that April’s $71 million rsETH incident on Aave was fraud rather than theft, in a bid to preserve a court order freezing the funds.
• The filing invokes the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act to claim the frozen ether as North Korean state...

Read full storyLatest Crypto News

Crypto derivatives have converged with Wall Street. Equity perps could soon prove it.

1 hour ago

North Korea terror victims escalate fight to seize $71 million from Aave hack

3 hours ago

XRP above $1.42 as traders watch 2025 breakout pattern that led to 66% rally

4 hours ago

Bitcoin tops $81,000 as Strategy mulls selling its BTC to fund dividend obligations

4 hours ago

Michael Saylor's Strategy signals potential bitcoin sale to fund dividends obligations

8 hours ago

Trust in crypto remains biggest barrier to adoption, say Consensus Miami 2026 panelists

9 hours agoTop Stories

Consensus Miami Day 1: Real-time coverage and highlights from on the ground

19 hours ago

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says Clarity better than chaos as Senate hits key moment

16 hours ago

Figure targets Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in mortgage push, citing massive cost cuts for borrowers

15 hours ago

Coinbase cuts 14% of staff as AI reshapes how crypto companies operate

20 hours ago

Strategy posts $12.54 billion Q1 loss on declining bitcoin price

12 hours ago

Crypto.