Taurus and Aktionariat have partnered to facilitate trading tokenized shares from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Switzerland on the Taurus Digital Exchange (TDX).

According to a press release, Aktionariat’s tokenization solution will enable companies to convert their shares into blockchain-based tokens on the Ethereum network.

The Swiss fintech firms will first introduce the initiative to RealUnit Schweiz — an investment company focused on real assets — and is set to go live in November.

In a Q&A with Cointelegraph, Victor Busson, chief marketing officer at Taurus, explained that tokenized shares “offer the same economic and social rights” as traditional shares:

“Contrary to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, in case of a tokenized share loss when self-custodying the assets outside of a marketplace, it is possible for the issuer to mint “new” tokens in accordance with the shareholder registry.”

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Tokenized shares implications

The collaboration is expected to improve liquidity access for Swiss SMEs by enabling the tokenized shares to be traded on TDX.

The tokenized shares will allow investors to hold equity digitally, with an option to choose between bearer shares (not recorded in a formal register) and registered shares.

Taurus will admit shares tokenized by Aktionariat to its platform TDX, opening up access to its network of banks, investors and retail clients.

Related: Real-world assets evolve finance by tokenizing everything, says Kinto co-founder

The first issuer of the initiative

RealUnit Schweiz, which tokenized its shares via Aktionariat in April 2022, will be the first to list its tokenized shares on TDX.

In the press release, Dani Stüssi, CEO of RealUnit Schweiz, stated that the firm will be “one of the first Swiss companies to offer tokenized instruments.”

“Being admitted to trade on TDX is a natural next step in our journey to increase accessibility and liquidity for our investors.”

Related: Taurus enhances Zand Bank’s crypto, tokenization services in UAE

Taurus credit tokenization efforts

Taurus partnered with German fintech firm Teylor in December 2023  to begin tokenizing SME loans and provide tokenholders with monthly cashflows.

By tokenizing part of Teylor’s credit portfolio on the Taurus infrastructure and TDX-regulated marketplace, professional private debt investors could participate in blockchain-based secondary markets for returns.

Lamine Brahimi, managing partner and co-founder at Taurus, explained that the collaboration enabled smaller investments and token trading, marking the first private debit portfolio tokenization.

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