Nomura’s Laser Digital CEO sees the fallout from the FTX collapse as an opportunity to provide institutions with more reliable digital asset services.

In September, Nomura announced the creation of Laser Digital as its Swiss-based global digital asset unit. It is chaired by Steve Ashley, former head of Nomura’s wholesale division, and is its CEO, Dr. Jez Mohideen. He has been at Nomura for four years, most recently as digital director of the wholesale division, and prior to that was a partner at Brevan Howard in London.

“The latest events in the crypto market will provide us with an opportunity as they will drive institutional investors into digital asset companies backed by traditional financial houses,” Mohideen told Bloomberg. “We’ve done all the stress tests and assuming worst case scenarios in terms of market volume, price volatility, we think we can become profitable within two years.”

He believes that companies need to take a long-term view, five to 10 years, of the digital asset sector.

As previously revealed, Laser has three arms starting with venture capital. It plans to support digital asset trading and offer investment products. Parent Nomura began supporting Bitcoin futures and options for Asian clients in May.

Nomura was one of the first institutional entrants into digital asset custody through Komainu, a joint venture with tech wallet firm Ledger and asset manager Coinshares. We will have to wait and see if Laser Digital’s asset management products involve collaborations with Coinshares. Mohideen’s former boss, Alan Howard, is also an investor in Komainu through Elwood Technologies.

Komainu recently acquired a license in Dubai, where Laser Digital intends to obtain the license along with the required approvals in Switzerland.

Meanwhile, Laser’s venture investing has already taken off with investments in ESG firm Allfinra and Orderly, DeFi’s market-making infrastructure.