Nomura's Laser Digital Gets Conditional OCC Approval for US Trust Bank Charter
Zurich-headquartered Laser Digital, the digital asset arm of Japanese banking giant Nomura, announced on May 29 that it had received conditional approval from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for a national trust bank charter, making it one of roughly ten crypto-focused firms to clear that regulatory hurdle in the past six months.
The proposed entity, Laser Digital National Trust Bank (LDNTB), would be based in New York and authorised to provide digital asset custody, spot trading in cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies, US government securities custody, and staking services for eligible custodied assets. The bank would not offer consumer deposit accounts or trade securities, which distinguishes it from a full commercial banking licence. Steve Ashley, Laser Digital's co-founder and chairman, would lead the board. Purvi Maniar, the company's chief legal officer, is proposed as president.
Laser Digital filed the de novo application (meaning a brand-new charter rather than a conversion of an existing bank) with the OCC on January 27, 2026. Conditional approval is the first of two stages. The company must still demonstrate sufficient capital and operational readiness before receiving final authorisation, a process that can take 12 months or more.
Laser Digital is already regulated in two other major jurisdictions: Dubai under the UAE's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority and Abu Dhabi under the Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM/FSRA). The US charter would add a third.
"The US is the most important financial market globally, and the next chapter of digital finance is being written by firms prepared for high levels of scrutiny," Ashley said in a statement. Maniar framed the trust bank structure as a natural fit for institutional clients: "The National Trust Bank framework provides exactly that, a clear, federally overseen model that aligns closely with how institutions already manage custody, trading, and fiduciary risk."
A Crowded Queue at the OCC
Laser Digital joins a wave of crypto and fintech firms that have pursued OCC trust charters under the current administration's more permissive regulatory posture. In December 2025, the OCC conditionally approved five firms at once: Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Bridge (a Stripe subsidiary) and Crypto.com received approvals in February 2026, and Coinbase followed in April.
Including Laser Digital, the OCC has issued conditional approvals to approximately ten firms since December. The agency received 18 de novo applications in 2025 alone, with analysts projecting around 25 novel charter applications in 2026.
A regulatory change on April 1, 2026 accelerated this trend. The OCC revised its rules to replace "fiduciary activities" with the broader phrase "operations of a trust company and activities related thereto," explicitly permitting non-fiduciary crypto custody under a federal framework. The move drew criticism from the Conference of State Banking Supervisors, who have called the structure a "Franken-charter," and from lawmakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has challenged the legality of the Coinbase and Ripple approvals.
Why a Japanese Bank Clearing This Bar Matters
Many of the firms in the OCC queue are US-headquartered. Laser Digital is a spinout of Nomura Holdings, founded in 2022, and its conditional approval is a signal that major Asian financial institutions are positioning themselves as regulated custodians inside the US system.
A Nomura survey published in April 2026 found that 65 percent of 518 institutional respondents viewed crypto as a portfolio diversifier. Separately, the share of respondents with a positive outlook on crypto rose to 31 percent, up from 25 percent in 2024. Of those planning to invest, 79 percent intended to make allocations within three years.
Laser Digital also launched a tokenized bitcoin yield fund in January 2026, targeting returns more than five percent above BTC performance over rolling 12-month periods through arbitrage, lending, and options strategies. The minimum subscription is $250,000. The fund is available only to accredited investors in eligible non-US jurisdictions, which points directly at institutional demand in the Gulf, Asia, and beyond.
The View from South Asia and Africa
For institutional investors and regulators outside the US, the practical implication is straightforward: a Nomura subsidiary operating under a federal US charter becomes a familiar, high-pedigree counterparty for digital asset custody with full regulatory oversight. That matters in markets where the infrastructure question, not the appetite question, remains the main obstacle.
Pakistan signed the Virtual Assets Bill 2026 in March, creating one of the first comprehensive crypto licensing frameworks among emerging markets. The legislation, signed by President Asif Ali Zardari, establishes a PVARA-supervised regulatory sandbox and includes provisions for Shariah-compliant digital assets, a significant feature for Pakistan's domestic market and for Islamic finance practitioners across the Gulf and South Asia.
India has no equivalent legal clarity yet for institutional custody of tokenised assets, though the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India continue to engage cautiously with the question.
In Africa, Nigeria's Investment and Securities Act 2025 classifies digital assets as securities. In parallel, the Central Bank of Nigeria has relaxed restrictions on banks working with licensed virtual asset service providers, offering a broader signal of regulatory openness alongside the securities framework. South Africa, widely regarded as the continent's most advanced crypto regulatory environment, and Kenya are both building out KYC and AML reporting requirements for exchanges.
In each of these markets, the emergence of OCC-chartered custodians sets a benchmark and a potential service provider for institutions managing USD-denominated portfolios on-chain.
Back in Japan, Nomura's home regulator moved in parallel: Japan's cabinet approved an amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act in April 2026 that formally classifies crypto assets as financial instruments. Japan's Finance Minister marked the moment by declaring 2026 "Digital Year One."
The combination of a US trust charter and domestic Japanese regulatory recognition puts Nomura in a rare position among global financial institutions, with regulated infrastructure spanning Asia, the Gulf, and now the United States. Nomura is also separately exploring JPY/USD stablecoin issuance in Japan through a collaboration with GMO Internet Group, a dual-track positioning that pairs regulated custody in the US with stablecoin infrastructure at home. Laser Digital must still complete Stage 2 of the OCC process, satisfying capital and operational requirements that can take 12 months or more, before the national trust bank charter becomes final.