Laser Digital Japan, the digital-asset arm of Japanese banking giant Nomura, has become the first new crypto asset exchange service provider registered in Japan in roughly four years. The company completed its registration under the Payment Services Act on August 21, 2026, securing registration number 00032 from the Kanto Local Finance Bureau — the first such approval since 2022.
Laser Digital itself was established by Nomura in Switzerland in 2022 as a standalone digital-asset subsidiary. Its Japan unit will initially focus on providing liquidity to domestic virtual asset service providers, with plans to later offer trading services directly to institutional investors across six crypto assets, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The company has not yet announced a specific launch date for either phase.
Why the Timing Matters
The approval lands a month after Japan's parliament passed revisions reclassifying crypto assets as financial instruments under the country's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, shifting oversight away from the payment-focused framework that has governed digital assets since 2017. The changes introduce insider-trading rules and tighter compliance requirements for crypto businesses, and are expected to pave the way for domestic crypto ETFs and separate, lower capital-gains tax treatment for digital assets when they take effect in 2027.
Related: SEC's Uyeda Says Biden-Era Strategy Was to Keep Crypto Out of the US
A Bet on Institutional Demand
A survey conducted jointly by Nomura and Laser Digital found that 79% of respondents planned to invest in crypto assets within the next three years, a figure the companies are using to justify entering a market that had gone without a single new exchange approval since 2022. Japan's Financial Services Agency has kept the bar for new crypto exchange registrations deliberately high since the Mt. Gox and Coincheck hacks pushed the country toward some of the strictest digital-asset compliance rules in the world — which makes a heavyweight institution like Nomura clearing that bar a signal to the rest of Japan's banking sector that regulators are open for business again.
What It Means for the Market
For now, Laser Digital's Japan entity is positioned as a liquidity provider rather than a retail-facing exchange, meaning its immediate effect on trading volumes will be limited. But as the first institution to clear Japan's registration process in four years, it sets a template other global banks weighing entry into Japan's crypto market will likely study closely, particularly once the 2027 tax and ETF framework takes effect.
