Nomura: pushing into bitcoin futures as price slump shakes confidence

Nomura: pushing into bitcoin futures as price slump shakes confidence

Cynics can point to a couple of indicators that peak crypto has been and gone, beyond a slump in the bitcoin price. The first is the presence at digital asset conferences of such trend-chasing former politicians as the UK’s Tony Blair. The second is Nomura’s decision to deal in bitcoin derivatives for clients.

The Japanese investment bank is known for a conservatism that has sometimes hampered its international ambitions. The CME and CBOE, two US exchanges, started offering bitcoin futures in 2017. US banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have dealt in them for some time.

Japan’s biggest brokerage is following their lead despite a plunge in cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin is at a 16-month low following a meltdown in TerraUSD, one of the world’s largest stablecoins.

A kinder spin on the Nomura initiative is that digital assets are continuing to edge into the financial mainstream despite their volatility. Most large financial institutions now have crypto units, albeit mostly of an exploratory kind. Last month, in a more material development, Goldman offered its first-ever lending facility backed with bitcoin.

Nomura has to serve its many retail clients, who have embraced cryptos faster than big brokerages and regulators. It needs extra fees too. Pre-tax profits