Turkish Misyon Bank moves into Bitcoin with Taurus

Update March 27: The article was updated to reflect that Misyon Bank and Taurus' collaboration will enable custody of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether in the first phase of implementation.

Misyon Bank — an investment banking firm and one of the first neobanks in Turkey — is moving into digital asset custody and tokenization with Swiss cryptocurrency custody provider, Taurus.

The Turkish neobank signed a partnership agreement with Taurus to implement its technology in order to provide crypto custody and tokenization services at Misyon Bank. The custody service will support Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ether ( ETH ) and Avalanche ( AVA ) in the first phase, a spokesperson for the Misyon Bank told Cointelegraph.

“We plan to extend our coverage by including the other essential cryptocurrencies provided by Taurus for our clients in the following phases,” the representative noted, adding that crypto support is enabled in addition to tokenization of real world assets.

Announcing the news on March 26, Misyon mentioned that the collaboration is structured through its wholly-owned subsidiary MisyonTech.

Misyon will deploy multiple Taurus-developed solutions, including the custody platform Taurus Protect, the tokenization tool Taurus Capital and the blockchain node infrastructure Taurus Explorer.

Taurus is known for providing its custody service to major European banks, including the Spanish financial services giant Banco Santander and global investment bank Credit Suisse. The latter is also a major Taurus investor, leading a $65 million Series B raise for the firm in February 2023.

According to Misyon Bank CEO Önder Halisdemir, the partnership with Taurus is a significant step forward in its plan to make Turkey the “Switzerland of its region.”

“With this collaboration, Turkish assets will be made accessible to investors worldwide through tokenization,” Halisdemir noted. He added that local solutions for digital assets will be designed with the contributions of Istanbul Technical University and KPMG. The exec stated:

“With the completion of the local regulatory framework for digital asset custody services, our efforts will make Turkey a center of excellence and attraction in its region regarding custody services and tokenization.”

Misyon and Taurus didn’t mention whether the collaboration targets the addition of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin ( BTC ) on the Misyon platform directly.

Related: OKX announces launch of Turkish platform

Turkey has emerged as one of major crypto economies in the world, ranking fourth in terms of crypto transaction volumes , or $170 billion in 2023, according to data from Chainalysis. The country is just behind the United States, India and the United Kingdom.

According to Misyon Bank and Taurus, the newly signed partnership opens the door for a wave of institutional activity in the region.

“We have been impressed by Misyon and MisyonTech team of experts, and we are confident that through this significant collaboration, Turkey could establish a prominent position within the region in digital asset custody and tokenization,” Taurus co-founder Lamine Brahimi said.

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