Nomura unit becomes first firm licensed to run a crypto exchange in Japan in four years

Laser Digital Japan, the local arm of Nomura’s digital asset subsidiary, announced on August 21 that it has registered as a crypto asset exchange service provider.

It is the first firm to clear Japan’s licensing bar in four years. Institutional investors in the country now get a Nomura supported venue for digital asset trading.

Nomura’s Laser Digital clears a four-year licensing drought

The company operates under the Payment Services Act. It is listed with the Director-General of the Kanto Local Finance Bureau under Registration No. 00032.

It has also become a member of the Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association (JVCEA), the self-regulatory organization for licensed operators.

Japan’s National Diet on July 15 passed legislation to transfer crypto regulation from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

The change would tax qualifying crypto gains at a rate of 20%, a reduction of the current maximum of 55%. Those tax provisions are projected to apply from January 1, 2028.

Nomura’s unit serves liquidity desks first, institutions next

Laser Digital said it will initially focus on providing liquidity to domestic virtual asset service providers, with trading access for institutional investors to come later.

Laser Digital opened its Tokyo office in October 2025 under Hideaki Kudo, a former Nomura executive, and at the time said it was in pre-consultation talks with the Financial Services Agency.

Kudo, now Representative Director and Head of Laser Digital Japan, said clearing the review process marks “an important milestone in our roadmap to serve the Japanese market.”

A 2026 Institutional Investor Survey published jointly by Nomura and Laser Digital found that 65% of respondents see crypto assets as a way to diversify their portfolios.

About 79% of those respondents said that they intend to invest over the next three years.

“Sophisticated investors are increasingly looking for access and the necessary quality of infrastructure behind it,” said Steve Ashley, Laser Digital’s co-founder and executive chairman.

Nomura spun off Laser Digital in 2022. The Zurich-based company has now won regulatory approvals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where it was the first firm to be licensed to offer OTC crypto options in August 2025.

As Cryptopolitan reported, it gained conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter in May 2026, a first for a subsidiary of a Japanese financial institution.

Co-founder and CEO Dr. Jez Mohideen said, “Japan’s digital assets market is entering a new phase of maturity.”

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