It is anticipated that the nation’s largest bank would hire 100 people to work in the emerging field of digital assets and open up shop outside of Japan.
Japanese investment bank Nomura plans to set up a subsidiary firm to assist institutional customers to invest in cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens, such as the Ethereum blockchain (NFTs).
As reported by the Financial Times on Tuesday, Nomura is planning to consolidate numerous crypto services under a single business by 2023, with a headcount of roughly 100 workers.
As of Q1 2022, Nomura has $569 billion in assets under management, making it one of Japan’s 10 biggest banks.
To start, the board of the new subsidiary firm is expected to be dominated by Nomura employees who have relocated to the United States to work on Web3 and blockchain projects. Jez Mohideen, Nomura’s director of wholesale digital operations, will spearhead the project for the time being.
As blockchain technology and digital assets grow increasingly popular, the bank looks to be under increasing pressure to become more familiar with them. It will be harder for us to remain competitive if we don’t do this, a Nomura official told the Financial Times.
Nomura’s decision to extend its cryptocurrency offerings comes at an intriguing time for the company. Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading was made available to Asian investors on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. On May 16, 6,944 Bitcoin futures contracts were traded on CME Group’s platform.
Due to a panic-induced by the recent Terra platform debacle, crypto values have plummeted on a global scale.
The FT reported on Tuesday that a $345 million writedown on a transaction that took place during the economic crisis of 2008 has put Nomura in jeopardy of losing the majority of its quarterly earnings. It’s not clear which transaction the bank was referring to. Writing down a transaction or asset means lowering its worth.
Also Read: RBI Warns About Crypto-Dollarization Of The Indian Economy
Wallets