Nomura Aims to Launch 100-person Staff Cryptocurrency Unit by End of 2023

Japan’s largest investment bank, Nomura, plans to launch a subsidiary focused on increasing institutionalized clients with the decentralized space, as market demands for this product rise, according to a Financial Times report on Monday. 

The new unit is set to launch by the end of 2023 and will consist of a number of digital services along with a 100-person staff to maintain it. 

The Japanese brokerage is joining a plethora of global lenders already offering digital asset services to institutional clients including Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon and Citigroup. 

“If we don’t do this, then it’s going to be more difficult down the line to be competitive,” a Nomura executive said, as quoted by the FT.

Furthermore, this move comes after a May 13 announcement from Nomura where they said they have begun offering Bitcoin over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives to clients, in response to the growing demand from institutional investors and private clients. They also made their previous announcement on twitter, although they haven’t tweeted about the new announcement at the time of writing. 

While Nomura is bullish on crypto, considering they are adding this new unit, crypto in general is experiencing a rather tumultuous time. Nine out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap are down in the last 24 hours. The two largest coins, Bitcoin and Ethereum are both down considerably since their late March high this year. 

Not to mention, the Luna Foundation Guard's cryptocurrencies TerrraUSD (UST) and LUNA have gone down 94% and 99% respectively in the last week. Their seemingly indestructible reserve of 80,000 plus Bitcoin is down to just 313.

It is certainly a tough time for crypto, but investors should have some confidence as Nomura and others are joining the list of big investment banks in the space.  

Author: Tyler Irvin

Related Articles