News Release Nomura, Ledger and Global Advisors Partner to Explore Building a
Secure Digital Asset Custody Solution
New venture, Komainu, established to overcome barriers to institutional
investment in
digital assets with new services, standards and best practice
Founders include global investment bank Nomura, security business Ledger, and
pioneer investment house Global Advisors, the parent company of CoinShares
Komainu will pave the way
for secure, compliant institutional investment in digital assets
Tokyo,
M ay
15, 2018
—
Komainu is being established to bring together the traditional and
disruptive worlds of asset custody, paving the way for secure and compliant institutional
investment
in digital assets. It will provide infrastructure and an operational framework to the
wider investment management industry and enable investors to embed or implement a
consistent set of best practice standards within their businesses.
This partnership draws together the expertise from banking, asset administration, fund
management, trading and digital asset security.
Despite
growing worldwide investor appetite, a shortage of robust safekeeping solutions is
preventing asset managers from building effective
investment vehicles. To date, activity has
been limited due to a lack of security, regulatory and compliance criteria
within this frontier
ecosystem.
The custody offering will address challenges faced by investors entering the sector. With the
ten larges
t digital assets alone reaching a total combined market capitalisation of $300bn+,
institutional investors are actively exploring ways to gain exposure to a rapidly emerging
asset class. One in five finance firms are considering launching digital asset trading and
investment businesses in the coming year.
Jez Mohideen, Global Chief Digital Officer
, Wholesale at Nomura, said:
“Global investment
managers have long been held back from full participation in digital asset markets, limited by
operational and regulatory risk. Our new partnership will set the required standards that will
bring peace of mind to digital asset investors, and provide tools and products to enable
better integration with more traditional investment vehicles such as mutual funds.”
Pas
cal Gauthier, President of Ledger, said: “Ledger is a well
-established security solution
provider with over 1 million Nano S hardware wallets sold. The Vault (a secure hardware
based key management solution for digital assets) is a natural expansion of our
offering,
tailored to address the challenges faced by the financial industry. By bringing together
financial industry experts and digital asset security leaders, our new venture will provide, for
the first time, services and solutions built for business.”
Jean-
Marie Mognetti, Co-
Principal of Global Advisors Holdings Limited, said:
“Since its first
digital asset trade in 2012, Global Advisors, the parent company of CoinShares, has been
looking for a robust custody solution, the likes of which are readily available in the analogue
financial system. After 6 years of research -
and collaboration with our administration partner
and its regulator
- we now have demonstrable progress. This partnership is a progressive
stepping stone towards the creation of the nec
essary prerequisites for further growth within
the digital asset ecosystem.
This will open new and exciting opportunities to global
participants and contribute to move digital asset closer to mainstream offerings
.”
Nomura
No mur a is a n As ia-
he ad qu art ere d f ina ncia l serv ices gr ou p w ith a n in te gra te d glob a l netw ork spa nn ing ov er 3 0
coun tr ies. By con n ect in g mar kets East & Wes t, No mura s ervic es th e n ee ds of in div idu als , inst it ut io ns,
corpor at es a nd g overn me nts thr ou gh its f our bus iness d iv isions : Ret ail, Asset Ma na ge me nt , Wh o les ale ( Glo ba l
Markets and Investment Banking), and Merchant Banking. Founded in 1925, the firm is built on a tradition of
disc ip lin ed en tre pre ne ursh ip,
serv ing c lie nts w ith cr eat iv e so lu t io ns a nd c ons id ere d t
ho ug ht lea ders hip. For
f urther inf ormation about Nomura, visit
w w w .nomura.com
Ledger
Le dg er is a s ecur ity so lu t io n prov ider f or d ig it a l asse ts, o per at in g in Par is, Vierzo n a nd Sa n Fra ncisc o. L ed ger ’s
thre e s ta ge miss io
n is to sec ure d ig ita l asse ts f or ind iv id ua ls, e nt erpr ises a nd mach in es. L ed ger h as grow n in
recen t ye ars int o t he c lear le ad er in cry ptoc urre ncy h ardw are w allets, hav in g so ld 1 m+ Nan o S d evic es. As th e
bus in ess ev olv es in to th e s eco nd s ta ge of its miss ion, L ed ger h as cre at ed th e V au lt , a sec urity so lut io n f or
ent erpr is es. L ed ger is th e exc lus ive t ech no logy p art ner t o co nsort iu m me mb ers, a nd w ill d eve lo p a cor e
technology platf orm to address the consortium’s security needs.
For f urther inf ormation please
contact
Milltow n Partners
:
Fred Stephens
44-
79-
0444-
10 68
Iain Mackenzie 44-
79-
7701-
557 7
ledger@milltow npart ners .co m
Global Advisors Holdings Lim ited
Glo ba l Adv isors ( Ho ldings) Lt d (" GA", " Glo ba l Adv isors") is an int ern at io na l inv est me nt ho use he ad qu art ere
d in
Jers ey. In 2 01 4, GA lau nche d t he w orld's f irs t inst itu t io na l
-grade Bitcoin investment strategy ("GABI"). In
Dece mb er 20 16 , GABI bec a me t he f irst r eg u la te d b itco in f und t o b e list ed on a ny exc ha ng e w orldw ide w hen it
w as list ed o n The Int ern at io na l
Stoc
k Exc ha ng e ( TISE) . Glob al Adv isors h as a 19-
y ear tr ac k r ecor d of man ag in g
clien t f u nds as a re gu la te d invest me nt ma na ger, orig in ally in th e c o mmo d ity ma rkets a nd , s inc e 20 14 , b itco in.
Via its shar eh o ld in g in Coin Sh ares ( Ho ld ings) Lt d, GA is a lso th e ma jor ity
ow ner of XBT Pr ov id er AB by
Co in Sh ares , th e issuer of excha ng ed tra de d b itco in a nd eth er tr acking pro ducts liste d o n Nasda q Stoc kho lm.
For f urther inf ormation about the group, visit
w w w .globaladvisors.co.uk
For f urther inf ormation please contact:
Fitch Carrere, 44-
1534-
513-
100 [email protected]
ends