Nomura Holdings (Japan’s financial holding company) announced Wednesday that it had launched a cryptocurrency-focused venture capital arm called Laser Digital Holdings. Nomura’s move follows a number of financial giants entering the cryptocurrency industry this year.
Nomura introduces Laser Digital Holdings
The investment banking giant from Japan, Nomura Holdings, is stepping into the world of crypto assets and in the coming months the new venture will reveal a slew of “new services and product lines.” Nomura is one of the largest investment banks in Japan and one of the oldest in the country. Nomura Securities, an investment firm was founded in Osaka in 1925.
The new Laser Digital Holdings is a Switzerland-incorporated holding company that aims to establish three vertical product offerings including secondary trading, venture capital, and investor products. The new venture will be led by Jez Mohideen as CEO and Steven Ashley as Laser Digital’s chairman. Switzerland was chosen for the country’s established and “robust regulatory regime,” Nomura’s press release discloses.
“Staying at the forefront of digital innovation is a key priority for Nomura,” the investment bank’s president and CEO Kentaro Okuda remarked on Wednesday. “This is why, alongside our efforts to diversify our business, we announced earlier this year that Nomura would be setting up a new subsidiary focused [on] digital assets.”
Nomura’s latest offering follows Nasdaq’s new crypto custody venture announced on Tuesday. Furthermore, before Nomura and Nasdaq’s announcements, Fidelity Digital Assets, Citadel Securities, and Charles Schwab Corp. announced a collaborative effort with plans to launch a crypto exchange that will deal with both retail and institutional clients. The three financial companies are calling the exchange EDX Markets (EDXM), and former Citadel Securities executive Jamil Nazarali was named the trading platform’s CEO.
Nomura, a Japanese financial giant, revealed Wednesday that Laser Digital will drop a new venture capital (VC) product called Laser Venture Capital. “[The new unit] will invest in companies in the digital ecosystem, with a focus on decentralized finance (defi), centralized finance (cefi), Web3, and blockchain infrastructure,” Nomura’s press announcement concludes.
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