Nomura’s Laser Digital backs ZIGChain’s private credit initiative with high single-digit million dollar investment

Nomura Group’s digital asset arm Laser Digital has made a strategic investment in UAE based Layer 1 blockchain ZIGChain as the companies work to bring private credit products across the Gulf onchain.

The size of the investment was not disclosed, although it is understood to be in the single digit millions of dollars. Both companies are based in Dubai and plan to jointly develop institutional onchain investment products.

The partnership will focus on private credit opportunities across the Gulf states, including Sharia compliant offerings. Laser Digital will provide institutional risk frameworks and governance for a pipeline of onchain vault products developed with ZIGChain.

ZIGChain cofounder Abdul Rafay Gadit said the companies share a goal of expanding access to financial services through crypto and tokenization. He said the collaboration is creating one of the largest onchain financial products developed for Gulf markets.

The companies are targeting gaps in the region’s private credit market, where smaller businesses can struggle to secure funding from traditional banks while potential investors often access opportunities only through large funds with high fees and entry requirements.

Laser Digital CEO Jez Mohideen said the firm has been studying private credit and views execution risk as one of the main challenges facing institutional onchain finance. Laser Digital will apply the risk and governance standards used across its broader institutional offerings to the ZIGChain partnership.

ZIGChain is developing infrastructure for regulated investment products and real world assets. The network has previously partnered with UAE digital lending platform Beehive to explore the tokenization, distribution, and servicing of private credit issued to small and medium sized businesses.

Laser Digital was launched by Nomura in 2022 to provide institutional crypto trading, asset management, and digital asset infrastructure. The company also received conditional approval in May for a United States national trust bank charter focused on custody, stablecoin transactions, cross border payments, and collateral management.

The investment follows Nomura’s decision earlier this year to tighten risk controls at Laser Digital after losses from its crypto business weighed on the group’s quarterly results. Nomura said at the time that it remained committed to digital assets while adopting a more conservative risk approach.