Major Belgian bank-insurer KBC Group has teamed up with Swiss fintech firm Taurus SA to provide institutional custody services for its new crypto asset offering, according to a Tuesday statement.
The collaboration will enable KBC to deploy Taurus-PROTECT, a banking-grade digital asset custody platform, as the foundation for regulated crypto trading through Bolero, KBC’s self-directed investment platform.
The service launched last month, making KBC the first Belgian bank to offer crypto trading within a fully regulated banking framework.
At launch, retail investors will have access to Bitcoin and Ethereum on an execution-only basis, with transactions conducted in compliance with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) framework.
According to Erik Luts, Chief Innovation Officer at KBC Group, growing demand for crypto among clients prompted the bank to team up with Taurus. The collaboration allows KBC to offer regulated crypto services with the same rigorous security and oversight applied across its operations.
“By working with Taurus, we can offer crypto services supported by banking-grade custody, ensuring the same level of security, governance, and control that defines our approach across the organization. This partnership allows us to turn regulated crypto trading into a concrete and reliable offering for our clients,” Luts stated.
KBC has structured the offering around a closed operating model where crypto assets purchased through Bolero remain within the platform rather than being transferred to external wallets or exchanges.
This approach eliminates the need for clients to manage private keys while reducing exposure to operational, fraud, and security vulnerabilities that have historically plagued retail crypto custody arrangements.
KBC’s approach underscores the importance of robust, banking-grade infrastructure for regulated crypto offerings, Lamine Brahimi, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Taurus, noted.
“We are proud to support KBC’s market-first initiative in Belgium with Taurus-PROTECT, our institutional custody platform designed specifically for banks,” he said.
The partnership signals an acceleration of institutional crypto adoption across European banking, driven by MiCAR’s impact on competition and regulation.
Traditional lenders that previously avoided digital assets now face pressure to offer regulated services as clients increasingly seek exposure through trusted financial institutions rather than standalone crypto exchanges.
