Summary
Laser Digital Japan completed registration as a Crypto Asset Exchange Service Provider under Japan's Payment Services Act, becoming the first new registered crypto exchange entrant in about four years (since Binance's entry in Nov 2022). Part of Nomura's digital assets arm, the company will initially provide liquidity to domestic VASPs and later explore institutional digital-asset trading. The approval coincides with Japan's reclassification of roughly 105 crypto assets under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) for fiscal 2027, and signals Japan's crypto market moving from a retail-led, Payment-Services-Act framework to a more institutional, financial-instruments regime.
Key Points
- Laser Digital Japan completed registration as a crypto asset exchange service provider (Payment Services Act)
- First new entrant on Japan's register of licensed crypto exchanges in ~4 years (since Binance Nov 2022)
- Registered with the Kanto Local Finance Bureau; member of Japan Virtual and Crypto assets Exchange Association
- Part of Nomura Group's Laser Digital digital assets arm
- Initial focus: liquidity services for domestic VASPs; later, institutional digital-asset trading
- Supports 6 crypto assets: BTC, ETH, XRP, BCH, LTC, SHIB
- 2026 Nomura/Laser Digital survey: 79% of Japanese institutional respondents plan to invest in crypto within three years
- Japan parliament in July passed legislation reclassifying ~105 crypto assets under FIEA (fiscal 2027)
- Brings crypto to investor-protection standards closer to traditional securities
- CEO Jez Mohideen: "Japan's digital assets market is entering a new phase of maturity"
- Nomura-backed: institutional counterparty with strong risk and compliance framework
- Context: Japan tightened crypto rules after exchange failures; institutional interest and stablecoin reforms expanding
- The registration and FIEA shift could strengthen the case for future Japanese spot crypto ETFs