Bitcoin Adoption Fund launched by Japan’s $500B Nomura bank

Japan’s largest investment bank, Nomura’s digital asset subsidiary Laser Digital Asset Management, has launched a Bitcoin Adoption Fund for institutional investors.

The official announcement noted that the Bitcoin (BTC)-based fund will be the first in a range of digital adoption investment solutions that the firm plans to introduce.

Nomura is a Japanese financial giant with over $500 billion worth of assets and offers brokerage services to leading institutional investors. The Bitcoin fund launched by its digital asset arm will now offer investors direct exposure to Bitcoin.

The Laser Digital Bitcoin Adoption Fund offers long-only exposure to Bitcoin. The financial giant has chosen Komainu as its regulated custody partner. The Bitcoin Fund is a portion of Laser Digital Funds Segregated Portfolio Company that has been registered as a mutual fund in accordance with the Cayman Islands Regulatory Authority.

Laser Digital Asset Management head Sebastien Guglietta said that Bitcoin is one of the enablers of this long-lasting transformational change, and long-term exposure to Bitcoin offers a solution for investors to capture this macro trend.

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The Bitcoin Adoption Fund might be the first of its kind launched by Nomura and its digital asset arm, but the Japanese investment banking giant has been investing in the digital asset ecosystem for quite some time already. In September 2022, the firm launched its digital asset venture capital arm to stay at the forefront of digital innovation. Earlier in August this year, Nomura’s crypto arm, Laser Digital, also won Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) license to operate in the country.

The long-only Bitcoin Adoption Fund for investors in Japan comes amid a growing discussion around Bitcoin-based investment products from regulated and mainstream financial giants. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission approved two Bitcoin-based futures exchange-traded funds (ETFs) even though there is a delayed decision on spot Bitcoin ETFs. Apart from the U.S., Canada and Europe have also approved several Bitcoin-focused investment products over the past couple of years.

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