In a move that suggests the rising interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptos, Nomura, the Japanese investment bank, has carried out its first crypto derivatives.

The Japanese investment bank Nomura indicated it is launching a new subsidiary to provide institutions with access to crypto-assets, reported Financial Times. 

The new unit is expected to have about 100 staff by the close of 2023 and will provide exposure to digital assets, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized finance, and cryptocurrencies. 

Nomura Joins the Growing List of Financial Institutions Getting into Cryptos 

Nomura, which has approximately 70 trillion yen in assets under management, started trading Bitcoin futures and options last week on CME, with more institutions expressing interest. Cumberland DRW was the first, which means that it has joined other top brands, such as JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS), in providing their clients with access to crypto markets. 

Nomura is one of the pioneer banks to consider custody of crypto assets. Others that were quick to make early entries are CoinShares, Komainu, and Ledger, a custody specialist, in mid-2020. The Nomura Research Institute, the main economic consulting wing of the Komainu bank, started a crypto-asset index for tracking the performance of the Japanese crypto market.

Others that have recently joined the Japanese crypto market include Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), which indicated it would end its three-year-old blockchain payment system to only focus on stablecoins. Rakuten, a Japanese e-commerce firm, announced it was launching its own NFT trading platform.