Nomura’s Laser Digital follows BTC fund with ETH offering

The product, designed for institutional investors, offers a staking facility that gives a yield of roughly 5.5%, company exec tells Blockworks

by Ben Strack /

November 9, 2023 11:45 am

Steve Heap/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Laser Digital has introduced an Ethereum Adoption Fund aimed at institutional investors, the firm announced on Thursday. The company is a digital assets-focused affiliate of Japan-based investment bank Nomura.

This new product invests in long-only spot ether positions and deploys “a yield enhancement strategy” by staking ETH held by the fund.

The process “maintains daily liquidity in the fund whilst offering a staking facility which gives an approximate yield of 5.5%,” according to Fiona King, Laser Digital Asset Management’s head of distribution.

Demand for this product is coming from pension funds, family offices and asset managers — as well as from private banks offering discretionary funds that are considering allocating between 1% and 5% to the new ETH product, King told Blockworks in an email.

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Sebastien Guglietta, head of Laser Digital Asset Management, said in a statement that Ethereum is helping enable the transformation to a digital economy.

“Hence, being exposed to Ethereum in the long run is considered a solution to capture this structural technology trend and the pace at which the Web3 economy expands its network effect,” he added.

ETH’s price was at about $2,020 at 10:15 am ET — up 7.5% in the last 24 hours.

The launch comes after Laser Digital introduced a bitcoin product in September — as the company noted that fund was the first of several “digital adoption investment solutions” it planned to make available.

Both the BTC and ETH offerings are registered under the Cayman Islands Regulatory Authority. Crypto firm Komainu custodies the assets held in each fund.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in the US is considering several ETFs that would hold ether directly.

Nomura introduced Switzerland-based Laser Digital last year. Its asset management unit — comprising staff in London, Zurich and Dubai — formed in February.

Laser Digital gained a full crypto license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority in July. It noted at the time it planned to offer over-the-counter trading services and crypto investment products to institutions.

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