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Komainu — institutional digital-asset custody specialist

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-19 Review by 2027-05-19 Sources 4 Machine-translated Original (JA)
#fintech#jp-custody#komainu#nomura#institutional-custody#laser-digital
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This entry sits under exchanges index. Read it with FSA crypto-asset exchange registration system — number system / Local Finance Bureau jurisdiction / registration requirements for adjacent context and Japan Financial Regulation — Legal Framework for Tokens, Crypto Assets, and Payments for the broader system boundary.

Jersey FSC registration (2019) · UK FCA Crypto registration (2025) · VARA (Dubai) registration (2023) · no Japan base / not registered with Japan FSA

1. Corporation / shareholders

  • Trade name: Komainu Holdings Limited (English) / Komainu (katakana common name)
  • Established: 2018 年 (Jersey, Channel Islands)
  • Head-office location: Jersey (a British Crown Dependency)
  • Form of establishment: founded as a three-party joint venture (Joint Venture) of Nomura Holdings, CoinShares, and Ledger
  • Current major shareholders (disclosed portion): as of 2025年 1 月, Blockstream led a Series B as a strategic investor. Laser Digital (Nomura’s digital-asset subsidiary) continues to participate on the Board. CoinShares and Ledger are investors from the time of founding.
  • Unlisted (no information on listing on a public stock market)

2. License / registration status

Regulatory authorityTypeTime of acquisition
Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC)registration (Regulatory Approval)2019 年
UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)Crypto Asset registration2025 年
Italy OAM (Organismo Agenti e Mediatori)Virtual Asset registration2025 年
VARA (Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority, Dubai)VASP license2023 年
  • Japan FSA crypto-asset exchange business: not registered
  • JVCEA membership: not a member
  • Within Japan, there is no registration with the Financial Services Agency / Local Finance Bureaus. There is also no disclosure of information on the establishment of a Japanese corporation.

3. Handled assets (custody targets)

A specific list of brand names is not disclosed on the official site (as a custody specialist, there is no list of brand names like an exchange).

  • supports custody of major crypto assets centered on BTC
  • it is confirmed to have, in 2021 年, taken charge of the custody of a Bitcoin ETP (an ETF-like product) of the Swiss Stock Exchange
  • custodial staking support: supports proof-of-stake assets such as ETH (2021 年~)
  • Komainu Connect (2023 年~) covers trading / collateral use / lending and borrowing
  • as of 2026 年 4 月, Komainu CORE (collateral-as-a-service) is deployed

4. Business scope

The company’s offered services are the 4 pillars of custody-first (centered on custody):

  1. Custody (safekeeping): cold custody utilizing MPC (Multi-Party Computation) + HSM (Hardware Security Module) wallet technology. Independently verifiable on-chain segregated management.
  2. Custodial Staking: an institutional service that earns on-chain rewards (staking) while keeping assets in custody. Started 2021 年.
  3. Komainu Connect (collateral management): a connection infrastructure that allows assets within custody to be utilized as collateral for trading / borrowing / lending. Started 2023 年. Partnered with major exchanges such as OKX.
  4. Komainu CORE: a Collateral-as-a-Service solution that makes digital assets function as regulation-compliant collateral. Began offering 2026 年 4 月.

Retail services such as fiat-currency deposit channels are not provided (pure institutional infrastructure).

5. Market position / customer base

  • Target: institutional investors / financial institutions / sovereign nations / government-affiliated funds
  • Disclosed customer cases (primary-source confirmed):
    • UK police: in 2021 年 1 月, adopted Komainu for the safekeeping of seized crypto assets (disclosed)
    • Swiss Stock Exchange-listed Bitcoin ETP: in 2021 年 1 月, selected as the custody handler of the ETP (disclosed)
    • UAE government / VARA-jurisdiction case: in 2023 年, involvement in a government-affiliated project around the same time as the acquisition of the VARA license in the UAE was reported
    • Partnership with OKX (Komainu Connect): in 2023 年 6 月, disclosed a partnership for custody connection with OKX
  • Competitive comparison: competes with institutional-custody providers such as Anchorage Digital, Fireblocks, and BitGo (see Global institutional custody five pillars — Coinbase Custody / Fidelity / Anchorage / BitGo / Komainu). The company’s differentiation points are multi-regulatory compliance across Jersey / UK FCA / VARA + affinity with the Nomura group.
  • Number of accounts / AUM in custody: not disclosed

6. History / major incidents

PeriodEvent
2018 年founded as a three-party joint venture of Nomura HD / CoinShares / Ledger
2019 年obtained Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) registration
2021 年 1 月undertook a case for the safekeeping of the UK police’s seized crypto assets
2021 年 1 月selected for the custody of a Swiss Stock Exchange Bitcoin ETP
2021 年 3 月completed Series A financing ($2,500 万)
2021 年integrated MPC technology into the tech stack, started custodial staking
2023 年obtained VARA (Dubai) VASP license
2023 年started Komainu Connect, partnered with OKX
2024 年 10 月acquired the Singapore custody company Propine, accelerating Asian-market expansion
2025 年 1 月completed Series B $7,500 万 (Blockstream led as a strategic investor). Raised in Bitcoin terms (equivalent to approximately 116 億円 in BTC, as of 2025-01 )
2025 年obtained UK FCA crypto registration, obtained Italy OAM registration
2026 年 4 月announced and began offering Komainu CORE (Collateral-as-a-Service)
  • no disclosed information on administrative dispositions / hacks / large-scale outages (as of 2026-05 )

7. Strategic developments (most recent 12 months)

  • Propine acquisition (2024-10): acquired Propine, a Singapore-based institutional custody company. Expansion of the footprint in the Asia-Pacific market is the explicit strategic objective.
  • Blockstream Series B (2025-01): raised $75M. Suggests Bitcoin-centered institutional custody + strengthening of the handling of Bitcoin-native assets. At the same time, Adam Back (Blockstream CEO), PeterPaul Pardi, and Nicolas Brand (Blockstream Capital Partners) joined the Board.
  • FCA registration (2025): formalization of service provision in the UK. Strengthening the appeal to institutional investors with a London base.
  • Komainu CORE (2026-04): SaaS-ification of regulation-compliant collateral management. Suggests entry into the digital-collateral market (connection with DeFi, repo transactions, etc.).
  • Japan expansion: as of 2026-05 , there is no official announcement for Japan. However, the Nomura-affiliated Laser Digital Japan set up a BTC fund in 2026-01 , and there is also a view that this is groundwork for indirect Japan-oriented services within the group (no official information).

8. Management

NamePositionBackground (disclosed portion)
Paul Frost-SmithCo-CEOover 30 years of international financial experience at JPMorgan / Credit Suisse / Swiss Re, etc. Joined Komainu 2024-05. Master of Laws, Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Robert JohnsonCo-CEO / CTO18 years at MUFG Securities, served as CTO / Partner at Coremont. Joined Komainu 2023-10. PhD (Automated Reasoning Systems), Queen Mary College, London.
Tony LarkinCFOserved at JPMorgan (top Europe / Asia analyst) / Citi / Credit Suisse / BofA ML. Joined Komainu 2024-06. ICAEW Fellow.
Sebastian WidmannHead of Dubaifrom Nomura HD Digital Assets VP (digital-asset startup investment / Komainu launch support). Joined Komainu 2021. UCL graduate (DLT research).
Susan PattersonHead of Jerseyformer JFSC (Jersey Financial Services Commission) regulator. Served at State Street / Credit Suisse / Brevan Howard / UBS. After early involvement with Komainu (2018-22), returned 2023 年.
Darren JordanCCO25 years of financial career at HSBC / ABN Amro / F&C Asset Management, etc. EMEA head at BitGo. Joined Komainu 2022.

Board of Directors (disclosed portion):

  • Adam Back (Blockstream Corporation / CEO)
  • Steve Ashley (Laser Digital / Co-CEO)
  • PeterPaul Pardi (Blockstream Capital Partners)
  • Jez Mohideen (Laser Digital / Co-CEO)
  • Paul Frost-Smith (Komainu)
  • Nicolas Brand (Blockstream Capital Partners)

Sources