Laser Digital, the digital assets arm of Japanese investment bank Nomura, said it has filed an application with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to open a federally regulated national trust bank, joining a number of crypto firms seeking to offer asset management services for the digital asset industry.
The proposed Laser Digital National Trust Bank would be headquartered in the U.S. and serve institutional clients with custody of cryptocurrencies and U.S. government securities. It would also offer spot trading for crypto and fiat currencies, along with staking services for eligible digital assets held in custody, according to a Tuesday press release.
If approved, Laser Digital would join a small group of federally regulated crypto-native institutions capable of offering these services under the direct supervision of a national regulator. The application comes just a month after Ripple, Circle Internet (CRCL), BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos received initial approvals as trust banks.
“Institutional clients are increasingly looking for ways to engage with digital assets within structures that are familiar, well-governed and supervised by regulators,” Purvi Maniar, chief legal officer at Laser Digital and proposed president of the bank, said in a statement. “The National Trust Bank framework provides exactly that.”
Laser Digital, headquartered in Zurich and already licensed in the United Arab Emirates, currently offers crypto funds, over-the-counter trading, and treasury management tools. Earlier this month, it introduced a tokenized bitcoin yield fund, the Laser Digital Bitcoin Diversified Yield Fund.
The proposed bank will not offer deposit accounts or securities trading at the time of launch.
