Nomura Weighs Sale of Crypto Arm Laser Digital as Europe Bleeds

Nomura Holdings is exploring a sale of Laser Digital, its Switzerland-based cryptocurrency subsidiary, after talks with potential buyers including Marex Group, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The Japanese bank has not made a final decision and could still keep the business, according to the report.

The deliberations land at an awkward moment. Nomura's European operations posted a pretax loss of 7.4 billion yen ($46.5 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2026 — the fourth consecutive quarterly loss in the region. Every other reporting region turned a profit over the same period. Nomura did not disclose whether Laser Digital contributed to the European result.

The numbers frame the pressure. Nomura, one of Japan's largest financial services groups, manages 152.8 trillion yen ($960 billion) in assets through its investment management division as of September 2026. A $46.5 million regional loss won't sink that ship. But four straight losing quarters in Europe invite questions about which units earn their keep.

What does a sale change for Nomura's crypto strategy?

Plenty, possibly. Laser Digital has been Nomura's main vehicle for institutional digital assets since its founding in 2022. The unit runs crypto trading, asset management and venture investment under one roof. Selling it would unwind a build-out that Nomura spent four years and considerable regulatory capital assembling.

The timing is the strange part. Less than three months ago, Laser Digital Japan secured the country's first new crypto exchange license in four years. That license let the firm expand institutional crypto trading services in its home market — a hard-won regulatory foothold that a sale would hand to whoever buys.

There is a US angle too. In May, Laser Digital received preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a proposed national trust bank. That marks a serious expansion push into American market structure, the kind of license foreign crypto firms typically chase for years.

What has Nomura's leadership actually said?

The bank has signaled caution before. On a January earnings call, chief financial officer Hiroyuki Moriuchi said Nomura would reduce its cryptocurrency trading positions to limit short-term volatility while continuing to expand Laser Digital over the medium to long term.

Read that against today's report and the picture shifts. Cutting trading exposure is risk management. Exploring a full divestiture is something else — a strategic question about whether a Japanese bank should own a crypto operation at all while its European book keeps losing money.

Who might buy it?

Marex Group, named by Bloomberg as one party in talks, is the concrete candidate on record. Marex is a UK-listed financial services firm with its own history in commodities and derivatives brokerage. An institutional crypto franchise with Japanese and US regulatory approvals would fit a buyer already serving professional markets — the licenses alone carry value that took years to obtain.

No price has surfaced. No agreement has been announced. Nomura may simply be testing the market, a routine move banks make when a unit's parent region underperforms.

Still, the operational stakes are real. Laser Digital holds:

• Japan's first new crypto exchange license in four years
• Preliminary OCC approval for a US national trust bank
• A Swiss headquarters anchoring its European operations
• Trading, asset management and venture arms built since 2022

What happens next?

Nothing is decided, per the report. If talks advance, expect Marex or another suitor to run due diligence on those regulatory licenses — the slowest assets to replicate and the most valuable in a sale. If Nomura walks away, the bank will face questions about why it floated a sale months after its most significant regulatory win in Japan. Either way, the window is open now, and Nomura's next earnings report will show whether Europe's losses forced its hand.