Taurus SA, a global enabler of digital asset infrastructure, is announcing the publication of an open-source confidential token standard for debt and equity tokenization in collaboration with the Aztec Foundation.
This initiative marks a step forward in enabling FIs to issue tokenized versions of financial instruments on public blockchains while “maintaining strong privacy expectations of their customers.”
The smart contract is designed to give asset issuers explicit control over who can see what information about assets “issued on public blockchains, without sacrificing compliance.”
Built on Aztec’s tech, the contract reportelody leverages Aztec’s upcoming L2 protocol powered by ZK proofs “to retain 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 enables banks and financial institutions to tokenize assets privately, “ensuring that applicable compliance requirements can be built in and automated.”
This addresses a 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.”
This initiative reflects a shared vision of supporting “innovation, privacy, and compliance in the digital asset ecosystem.”
As noted in the update, the Aztec Foundation is said to be “a nonprofit organization that supports the growth and development of open-source programmable privacy.”
As the steward of the Aztec Network, the Foundation says it “conducts fundamental research in freedom-enhancing cryptography.”
It provides ancillary support to builders developing innovative applications that protect “user privacy, enable compliance, and maintains Noir, the universal language for zero-knowledge proofs.”
The Aztec Foundation is co-founded by Zac Williamson, who is President and Chairman of the Board, and Arnaud Schenk, who “leads the Foundation as Executive Director and serves on the board.”
As mentioned in the announcement, 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 over a 50% market share in Switzerland, it is a global firm focused on the banking segment, entrusted by the “spectrum of financial institutions: systemic banks, universal banks, online banks, crypto-banks, private banks, and broker-dealers.”
Taurus operates a marketplace for private assets and tokenized securities.