Nomura Explores Laser Digital Sale
Nomura Holdings is exploring a sale of Laser Digital, its Zurich-based crypto subsidiary, Finance Magnates reported, citing Bloomberg and people familiar with the matter. Neither Nomura, Laser Digital nor Marex has confirmed the report. Nomura is a Japanese securities group. Laser, founded in 2022, provides institutional trading and asset management and invests in crypto startups.
According to the report, Nomura is speaking with potential buyers including Marex Group, which is evaluating a deal. Marex is a broker and market-maker offering institutional digital-asset execution, clearing, financing and structured products. According to the report, Nomura has made no final decision and could agree a sale to Marex or another buyer, or keep Laser.
Finance Magnates said losses at Laser pushed Nomura’s European operations into the red. The report added that in January 2026, Nomura chief financial officer Hiroyuki Moriuchi said the group would lower position risk at Laser to limit short-term earnings volatility, following losses from market moves in October and November 2025.
According to the report, Laser has kept expanding in the meantime. Its proposed US trust bank received preliminary conditional approval, meaning early clearance before final authorisation to open, from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in May 2026. It cannot begin operations until it meets pre-opening requirements and receives final authorisation.
The report said that in August 2026, Laser Digital Japan registered as a crypto-asset exchange service provider, Japan’s registered category for licensed crypto trading venues. It is described as the first new entrant in that category in about four years. The unit initially provides liquidity to domestic crypto businesses, with institutional trading planned later. According to the report, Laser’s partnership with ZIG Finance produced its first product on 11 November 2026.
If a sale went ahead, the ownership of Laser could change for brokers, liquidity providers and other counterparties with exposure to it, whether through trading, liquidity, custody or a partnership such as ZIG Finance. Change-of-control terms in their contracts would then be worth checking. Nothing has been confirmed.
A Marex deal would add Laser’s institutional crypto business to a broker’s own. Finance Magnates said Marex added an over-the-counter (OTC), or directly negotiated, rolling spot crypto product in October 2026, so the two businesses could overlap.
