Nomura Explores Laser Digital Sale, Bloomberg Reports

Nomura Holdings is exploring a sale of Laser Digital, its Zurich-based crypto business, after losses at the unit pushed its European operation into the red last year, Bloomberg reported Nov. 11.

Nomura is talking to potential buyers including Marex Group, which is evaluating the deal, Bloomberg said, citing people familiar with the matter. No final decision has been made: Nomura could sell to another party or retain the business, the report said.

Laser Digital's activities span trading, asset management, solutions and early-stage investing, according to its September company announcement. The reported talks concern a business that has also been building institutional lending products on decentralized finance infrastructure—not just trading cryptocurrencies.

Nomura's own January earnings summary documented pressure from digital assets. For the October–December 2025 quarter, it said its four main business segments performed solidly, but its “other” segment recorded a loss because of worsened market conditions in the digital-asset business. That disclosure describes a segment loss, rather than a standalone loss figure for Laser Digital.

Onchain Credit Partnerships

In September, Laser Digital and Keyring Network announced plans to develop institutional fixed-income products, initially focusing on lending and borrowing markets. Keyring would provide access checks and tools for setting lending risks and designing liquidations; Laser Digital's asset-management division would contribute governance standards and portfolio structuring. The companies said the first markets were ready to go live on Euler Finance.

“ Our partnership with Keyring focuses on building solutions to support assets whose behaviour resembles conventional fixed income instruments rather than speculative crypto tokens, while preserving the efficiency benefits of on-chain settlement,” Laser Digital co-founder and CEO Jez Mohideen said in the announcement.

The company had also backed ZIGChain's private-credit push in August, buying $ZIG tokens and agreeing to structure and oversee risk for a pipeline of onchain credit products with $ZIG Markets.

Those roles are distinct from guaranteeing investors' money. The Keyring announcement explicitly said neither Laser Digital nor any Nomura affiliate guaranteed or provided credit support for the contemplated products. The reported sale discussions do not establish a change to those arrangements.