Laser Digital Japan, the digital-asset arm of Nomura Holdings, has secured registration as a Crypto Asset Exchange Service Provider under Japan’s Payment Services Act. The approval, bearing registration number Kanto Local Finance Bureau No. 00032, marks the first time a firm has received such a license in four years, since 2022.
Initially, the firm will provide liquidity services to domestic virtual asset service providers, with institutional trading services targeting corporates, pension funds, and government-linked entities planned to follow. Supported assets currently include Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Shiba Inu.
Jez Mohideen, co-founder and CEO of Laser Digital Japan, noted that the registration aligns with a growing interest among institutional investors. A survey conducted by Nomura and Laser Digital indicated that 79% of Japanese institutional respondents plan to invest in crypto within three years. Additionally, digital asset holdings by Japanese investors reached ¥4.9 trillion, equivalent to approximately $33 billion, as of September 2025.
Japan's regulatory framework has seen notable shifts, including moves to tighten insider-trading rules and reduce the crypto tax rate toward a flat 20% from a previous ceiling of up to 55%. Furthermore, crypto assets have been reclassified as financial instruments, moving their legal footing toward the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, with expectations for exchange-traded products as early as 2028.
Japan’s crypto registry experienced a prolonged freeze following exchange scandals in the early 2020s, with strict vetting standards previously keeping new entrants out. Laser Digital already maintains regulatory credentials in other jurisdictions, including a VARA license in Dubai, operations in Switzerland, and conditional OCC trust bank approval in the United States.
