- Japan’s Nomura bank to offer cryptocurrency trading for institutional clients in 2023.
- The bank intends to provide clients with crypto trading, DeFi, stablecoins, and NFTs.
- Several Japanese financial institutions are making a foray into Web3.
Japanese bank Nomura has announced that, in early 2023, it will offer institutional crypto trading. Nomura, the largest brokerage and investment bank in Japan, has announced that its cryptocurrency subsidiary, Laser Digital, will be expanding its workforce and product offerings by a significant margin.
In its initial foray into business, Laser Digital is launching a venture capital investment arm with a focus on the cryptocurrency industry. Executives at Nomura have stated that the company is currently recruiting for and developing an electronic trading platform with an anticipated debut date of April 2023. By March 2023, the new firm hopes to hire around 50 people.
The firm will provide services related to cryptocurrencies, DeFi, stablecoins, and NFTs as part of its “comprehensive suite of trading, investor products, and investment services.”
Laser Digital CEO Jez Mohideen told Blockworks that the company is expecting more institutional investors to join the platform. During an interview with the publication, he stated:
The deep skills that we’ve acquired in the area of quant, electronic-trading platform builds and rigorous risk management skill sets […] I think that this sort of skill set is invaluable for the institutionalization of digital assets. There’s no question everybody’s waiting in the crypto ecosystem for institutions to come in.
To bridge the gap between institutional interest and the larger crypto ecosystem, Laser Digital plans to market its trading platform to institutional customers, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and hedge funds currently investing in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. However, eventually, the firm hopes to expand its clientele.
Additionally, Nomura is also focused on web3 and has initiatives in the works to that end. The bank is developing a team to help other firms enter the metaverse. In particular, it is considering ways in which it may use its investment banking expertise to assist businesses in areas such as wealth creation and compliance.
And it’s not just Nomura; MUFG, Japan’s largest financial institution, joined ANA Holdings, a holdings consortium focusing on air transportation industries, on November 7 to engage in ANA’s Granwhale metaverse and examine the possibilities of offering financial products on the platform.
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