Nomura-backed Laser Digital introduces tokenized bitcoin yield-bearing fund

Nomura-backed crypto trading firm Laser Digital introduced a bitcoin $BTC$89,931.57 diversified yield fund to provide long-term holders of the largest cryptocurrency with a return on their assets via carry-like trading strategies and market-neutral arbitrages, lending and options.

Operating under the auspices of Laser Digital’s asset management arm, the fund will be the first natively tokenized bitcoin yield fund, done through tokenization specialists KAIO (formerly Libre Capital), the company said in a press release on Thursday.

The fund is an upgrade of Laser’s 2023-launched Bitcoin Adoption Fund, and will be custodied by Komainu, a joint venture between Nomura, digital asset manager CoinShares and digital asset security company Ledger.

Only to certain accredited investors in eligible jurisdictions (non-U.S.) will be able to invest, with a minimum subscription amount of $250,000 or $BTC-equivalent, Laser Digital said.

The fund targets long-term bitcoin holders, aiming to offer over 5% excess net return over $BTC performance across various market regimes over rolling 12 months, according to a press release.

“Recent market volatility has shown that yield-bearing, market neutral funds built on calculated DeFi [decentralized finance] strategies are the natural evolution of crypto asset management,” Jez Mohideen, co-founder and CEO of Laser Digital, said in a statement.