Laser Digital, Nomura Group’s digital assets arm, has made a strategic investment in UAE-based ZIGChain. The partnership is aimed at building institutional onchain private credit products for Gulf markets, including Sharia-compliant offerings.
Laser Digital, Nomura Group’s digital assets arm, has made a strategic investment in UAE-based ZIGChain. The partnership is aimed at building institutional onchain private credit products for Gulf markets, including Sharia-compliant offerings.
The development matters because it connects a major traditional finance name with a regional blockchain project targeting private credit, an area where tokenization advocates see room for new market infrastructure. According to the source, the partnership is intended to support institutional onchain vault products with risk framework design and governance, including offerings that can meet Sharia-compliant requirements.
Laser Digital, the digital assets arm of Japan’s Nomura Group, has made a strategic investment in ZIGChain, a UAE-based Layer 1 blockchain. The deal, reported by CoinDesk, is tied to a broader strategic partnership focused on onchain private credit products in the Gulf States.
The development matters because it connects a major traditional finance name with a regional blockchain project targeting private credit, an area where tokenization advocates see room for new market infrastructure. According to the source, the partnership is intended to support institutional onchain vault products with risk framework design and governance, including offerings that can meet Sharia-compliant requirements.
The size of Laser Digital’s investment was not disclosed, though CoinDesk reported it is understood to be in the single-digit millions. ZIGChain also works with Apex Group, a fund servicing firm described in the source as crypto-friendly.
ZIGChain co-founder Abdul Rafay Gadit framed the opportunity around access to capital in the Middle East. He said borrowers can struggle to raise money through banks, while investors may not know about available opportunities or may face high fees and barriers through large funds.
The partnership also comes after a period of tighter risk management at Laser Digital. CoinDesk noted that Nomura tightened risk limits at the unit earlier in 2026 after crypto losses weighed on quarterly profit, while indicating it would remain in crypto with a more conservative approach.
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