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Laser Digital Japan — Japanese entity and digital-asset business

ConfidenceLikelyUpdated2026-07-29Review by2027-01-29Sources8Machine-translatedOriginal (JA)

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This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it with FSA crypto-asset exchange registration system — number system / Local Finance Bureau jurisdiction / registration requirements for adjacent context and Japan Financial Regulation — Legal Framework for Tokens, Crypto Assets, and Payments for the broader system boundary.

JVCEA Type-II member #2037 · Representative Director: Hideaki Kudo · Official role of the Japanese entity: providing operational services to the Laser Digital group

1. Corporate / shareholders

  • Trade name: Laser Digital Japan (same in English)
  • Established: 2023-10-02
  • Head office location: Toyosu Bayside Cross Tower, 2-2-1 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo
  • Capital: JPY 100 million
  • Group relationship: the official site describes Laser Digital Japan as Laser Digital’s Japanese subsidiary and says Nomura established Laser Digital in 2022. The Japanese company’s outline does not name its direct shareholder or shareholding percentage, so this entry does not state that it is a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of Laser Digital Holdings AG.

2. License / registration status

  • JVCEA Type II member: member number #2037 (does not hold exchange-format crypto-asset exchange registration)
  • Crypto-asset exchange business (FSA registration): Laser Digital Japan is absent from both the FSA list snapshot dated 2026-04-01 and the current file retrieved on 2026-07-29. Type-II membership must not be treated as crypto-asset exchange registration.
  • Financial instruments business: the company outline checked on 2026-07-29 does not list a financial instruments business registration number.
  • Licenses at other group locations: Laser Digital Middle East FZE (Dubai VARA VL/23/06/001), Laser Digital UK Ltd (FCA FRN 1000108), ADGM Financial Services Permission (obtained 2026 ).

3. Handled currencies

  • The Japanese site’s “Trading Guide” and “Overview — Crypto Assets” pages both displayed “coming soon” on 2026-07-29 and listed no supported assets.
  • Group product descriptions must not be treated as services offered by the Japanese company. The company’s official description is that it provides operational services to the broader group.

4. Scope of operations

  • Group businesses: Laser Digital describes institutional trading, asset management, solutions, and early-stage investment.
  • Disclosed role of the Japanese entity: operational services for the Laser Digital group. The Japanese site includes links for trading documents, but the documents remained unpublished on 2026-07-29 and the company was absent from the FSA crypto-asset exchange register.
  • Research and regulatory cooperation: in 2026, the entity published an institutional-investor survey with Nomura and participated in an AML proof of concept supported by the FSA FinTech PoC Hub.

5. Market share / trading volume

  • Official materials do not disclose comparable trading volume or account numbers for the Japanese entity. Group-level institutional products are not counted as Japanese-entity performance.
  • Because the Japanese entity is not listed in the FSA exchange register, it is not treated as part of domestic registered-exchange retail-volume rankings.

6. History / major events

The table distinguishes Japanese-entity and group milestones and is limited to facts confirmed by Laser Digital Japan’s company pages and announcements, the JVCEA member list, and the FSA exchange register. ^[Sources: https://www.laserdigital.com/japan/information/company-outline; https://www.laserdigital.com/japan/en/information/about-laser-digital-japan; https://www.laserdigital.com/japan/ja; https://jvcea.or.jp/member/; https://www.fsa.go.jp/menkyo/menkyoj/kasoutuka.xlsx.]

Period Content
2022-09 Nomura HD established Laser Digital Holdings AG in Switzerland.
2023-10-02 Laser Digital Japan was established; Hideaki Kudo is listed as Representative Director.
2023 Obtained a VARA license in Dubai (group).
2023 Launched the Bitcoin Adoption Fund (group).
2025-10 Bloomberg reported that “it is in preliminary consultation with the FSA aiming for FSA crypto-asset exchange registration at the Japanese entity.”
2026-01-22 Launched the Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund SP (BDYF) (an upgrade from the Adoption Fund).
2026-01-27 Announced a de novo application to the OCC toward establishing a National Trust Bank (LDNTB) in the United States.
2026-01-30 In Nomura HD’s FY 3 Q earnings, it recorded a loss in Laser Digital’s digital-asset-related business. It explained that the “medium-to-long-term nurturing” policy would be firmly maintained.
2026-02-27 LDJ announced its participation in a crypto-asset AML demonstration experiment led by Hitachi and supported by the FSA FinTech PoC Hub (participating in 16 社, 2026-03–05).
2026-04-16 Nomura HD × Laser Digital jointly published the “2026 Institutional Investor Digital-Asset Investment Trends Survey.”
2026-05-14 Announced a strategic integration with Quadra (an integrated trading ecosystem for institutions).
2026-07-29 JVCEA Type-II member #2037; absent from the FSA crypto-asset exchange operator list.

7. Strategic developments

  • Nomura Group digital-asset business: the Nomura-established Laser Digital group describes institutional trading, asset management, solutions, and investment. The Japanese company’s direct shareholding ratio is not shown in its company outline. Crypto Garage is a separate company whose major shareholders are Digital Garage and Central Tanshi, and is not described here as a Nomura–MUFG–SBI joint venture.
  • Division of roles with Komainu: Komainu (established 2018 年, a JV of Nomura × CoinShares × Ledger) is in charge of custody infrastructure. Laser Digital is in charge of trading and asset management. Laser Digital’s Steve Ashley and Jez Mohideen (CEO) participate on the Komainu Board, indicating a close cooperative structure between the two companies.
  • Group products: descriptions such as “first” or “natively tokenized” for funds such as BDYF are treated as group product claims, not as products directly offered by the Japanese entity.
  • US national-trust-bank application (2026-01): Through a de novo application to the OCC, a stepping stone toward custody / spot trading in the United States.
  • Public preparation status in Japan: trading-document links exist on the Japanese site, but their pages displayed “coming soon” on 2026-07-29. JVCEA Type-II membership is not interpreted as completion of FSA registration.
  • AML × regulatory cooperation: The 2026-02 participation in the FSA FinTech PoC Hub is a move that clarified a path of coordination with regulatory authorities.
  • Hideaki Kudo (工藤英明): Representative Director of Laser Digital Japan. His name was disclosed in the comment announcing the 2026-02 AML PoC.
  • Jez Mohideen: CEO of Laser Digital (group). Also participates on the Komainu Board.
  • Steve Ashley: Laser Digital Board Member. Also participates on the Komainu Board.
  • Nomura Holdings CFO Hiroyuki Moriuchi (森内博之): In the 2026-01-30 earnings Q&A, explained Laser Digital’s loss / risk-management policy.

Sources

#fintech#jp-crypto-exchange#vasp#jvcea-type2#nomura#institutional

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