Nomura Weighs Sale of Crypto Subsidiary Laser Digital as European Losses Persist
Key Takeaways
- •Nomura Holdings has held talks with potential buyers, including Marex Group, over a possible sale of its cryptocurrency subsidiary Laser Digital, though no final decision has been reached.
- •Nomura's European businesses posted a pretax loss of 7.4 billion yen ($46.5 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, their fourth consecutive quarterly loss, while every other reporting region generated pretax profits.
- •Marex Group is a publicly traded brokerage focused on commodities, energy and financial futures, so a deal would place Laser Digital with a trading-focused intermediary rather than a bank.
- •Less than three months before the reported talks, Laser Digital Japan secured Japan's first new crypto exchange license in four years, and the Swiss-headquartered unit received preliminary US approval for a proposed national trust bank in May.
- •Nomura CFO Hiroyuki Moriuchi said in January that the company would reduce cryptocurrency trading positions to limit short-term volatility while continuing to expand Laser Digital over the medium to long term, leaving how the group reconciles that plan with the reported talks an open question.
Japanese financial services giant Nomura Holdings is reportedly weighing a sale of its cryptocurrency subsidiary Laser Digital as the group's European operations continue to post losses.
Nomura has held talks with potential buyers, including Marex Group, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The company has yet to make a final decision and could still opt to keep the business, according to the report. Marex is a publicly traded brokerage focused on commodities, energy and financial futures markets — a profile that would place the crypto unit with a trading-focused intermediary rather than a bank, should a deal move forward.
The deliberations come as Nomura's European businesses posted a pretax loss of 7.4 billion yen ($46.5 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026, marking their fourth consecutive quarterly loss. The company posted pretax profits in every other reporting region over the same period. Nomura did not disclose whether Laser Digital, which is headquartered in Switzerland, contributed to the European result, leaving the unit's own financial performance unaccounted for in the company's regional reporting.
Nomura is one of Japan's largest financial services groups, with its investment management division overseeing 152.8 trillion yen ($960 billion) in assets as of September 2026.
A potential sale would come less than three months after Laser Digital Japan secured the country's first new crypto exchange license in four years, allowing the firm to expand its institutional crypto trading services in Japan — a span between new registrations that reflects how seldom Japan's regulator has approved new crypto exchanges.
Established in 2022, Laser Digital provides institutional cryptocurrency trading, asset management and venture investment services. The company has also pursued expansion in the United States, receiving preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for its proposed national trust bank in May.
During a January earnings call, Nomura chief financial officer Hiroyuki Moriuchi said the company would reduce its cryptocurrency trading positions to limit short-term volatility while continuing to expand Laser Digital over the medium to long term. How the group reconciles that stated expansion plan with the reported talks is among the open questions as Nomura weighs whether to keep or sell the unit.
