Karla Barker 
Nomura’s crypto arm, Laser Digital, has secured a conditional trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the United States. This marks a first for any subsidiary of a Japanese financial institution.
The Zurich-based firm, which manages over $250 million in assets, originally filed for the federal charter back in January. Once the conditional charter is finalized, Laser Digital will be allowed to custody and manage tokenized, digital, and traditional assets under federal oversight.
What Laser Digital plans to do
A newly-formed subsidiary called Laser Digital National Trust Bank will handle U.S. operations. The company intends to move funds between fiat money, stablecoins, and cryptocurrencies. It also plans to facilitate cross-border payments and provide collateral management for both crypto and non-crypto transactions. However, Laser Digital will not offer loans or accept deposits.
The full OCC approval still depends on meeting several outstanding requirements. One key condition is hitting the minimum capital requirement, which the OCC sets on a case-by-case basis.
Growing list of approvals
Since December 2025, the OCC has conditionally approved at least eight crypto and fintech firms for trust bank charters. The list includes Circle, Ripple, BitGo, Paxos, Fidelity Digital Assets, Bridge (a Stripe subsidiary), Crypto.com, and now Laser Digital. According to S&P Global, more than 15 crypto asset companies have filed for OCC charters since the start of 2025.
Not everyone is happy about this trend. As Cryptopolitan earlier reported, traditional banks have criticized the wave of charters. The Bank Policy Institute accused digital asset firms of “not planning to operate genuine trust companies” and warned the OCC was blurring what it means to be a bank.
Laser Digital’s global expansion
Since spinning off from Nomura in 2022, Laser Digital has been steadily building its regulatory footprint. It secured broker-dealer approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in 2023. In August 2025, it became the first company in Dubai licensed for over-the-counter crypto options. Then in October 2025, it opened a Tokyo office to target Japan’s growing institutional crypto demand.
Now, this conditional approval adds a U.S. federal banking license to its growing list of regulatory wins. Whether Laser Digital can clear the remaining capital requirements and receive full sign-off will determine how quickly it can compete with Circle, Ripple, and Paxos on American soil.