Nomura Holdings is tightening risk controls at its European crypto subsidiary after recording third-quarter losses, a cautious shift that arrived as Bitcoin broke below $80,000 over the weekend. Shares of the Tokyo-listed firm fell 6.7% on Monday, the biggest intraday decline in more than nine months, after net income dropped 9.7% year over year to ¥91.6 billion ($590 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Nomura is reframing digital assets as a managed risk budget, not a growth-at-all-costs mandate. The firm described the move as a cautious retreat from digital assets amid mounting pressure from market volatility and heightened investor scrutiny. Hideyasu Ban, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said the market reaction is likely short-term as investor unease over crypto losses combined with broader Asian market weakness. In other words, the selloff reads like a sentiment shock, while management is moving to keep volatility from bleeding into core earnings.
Laser Digital tightens position management
Chief Financial Officer Hiroyuki Moriuchi said the firm is “reducing the amount of risk” at Laser Digital Holdings, its Switzerland-based digital-asset unit, after market fluctuations pushed the subsidiary into losses in the third quarter. He told analysts that strict position management will be used to reduce risk when profits swing sharply with markets. Nomura’s international operations still earned ¥16.3 billion before taxes, a 10th consecutive profitable quarter, but that figure was roughly 70% lower than a year earlier due to European losses. The crypto setback, however, sat beside stronger core performance: four-segment pretax income reached the highest level in 18 years, and Wealth Management hit record-high recurring revenue. Investment Management assets climbed to an all-time high of ¥134.7 trillion after a $1.8 billion acquisition of Macquarie’s asset management business. A planned buyback of up to ¥60 billion, or 3.2% of outstanding stock, reinforces a message of balance-sheet discipline for shareholders.
Treasury drawdowns sharpen the long-term charter narrative
The pullback also lands as large crypto treasury holders report sharp paper drawdowns. Strategy reported a $17.44 billion unrealized loss on digital assets for the three months ended Dec. 31, alongside a $5.01 billion deferred tax benefit, yet it still acquired 2,932 BTC for about $264.1 million from Jan. 20 to Jan. 25. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, linked to investor Tom Lee, faced more than $6 billion in unrealized losses on Ether reserves after adding 40,302 ETH, leaving over 4.24 million ETH worth about $9.6 billion as Ether slid toward $2,300. Metaplanet reported a 104.6 billion yen ($680 million) impairment and forecast an ordinary loss of 98.56 billion yen ($640 million) for fiscal 2025, then announced a $137 million raise. Even as the cycle punishes balance sheets, Laser Digital filed for an OCC trust charter to support spot trading without state-by-state custody permits. The filing joins a surge of charter bids amid lighter regulatory oversight.
