Nomura Posts Crypto Losses—But That’s Only Half the Story
Japan’s largest brokerage, Nomura, disclosed on January 30 that its crypto subsidiary, Laser Digital, posted losses in the October–December quarter. The firm has reduced cryptocurrency positions and tightened risk controls.
But just two days earlier, that same subsidiary had applied for a US bank charter. This is not a contradiction—it is a pattern.
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48 Hours Apart
On January 27 in New York, Laser Digital filed an application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish a federally chartered national trust bank. The subsidiary wants to offer custody, spot trading, and staking services to American institutional clients. Steve Ashley, Laser Digital’s chairman, called the US “the most…
