Komainu works to monitor and safeguard digital assets for financial institutions
Nomura Holdings, together with crypto partners Ledger and CoinShares, recently launched Komainu. The joint venture, announced last Wednesday, is designed to custody and protect digital assets on behalf of financial institutions.
The project was first disclosed in 2018 and is overseen by the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Jean-Marie Mognetti, co-founder and CEO of CoinShares, will lead the joint venture.
In an interview, Mognetti said they tested the platform with a limited group of clients for five months and are now rolling it out to attract new customers.
The launch of Komainu comes at a time when many established financial firms are debating whether to offer custody and related services for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and other digital assets.
Numerous major financial institutions, including Nomura, expect that traditional assets—such as bonds or equities—could be tokenized and issued using blockchain technology. They believe tokenization could lower costs and streamline processes.
For a long time, the lack of institutional-grade back-office services among large financial providers hindered broader adoption of digital assets.
Jezri Mohideen, global head of digital for wholesale at Nomura, emphasized the firm’s commitment to addressing this gap.
“We have been closely watching the evolution of the digital asset ecosystem. For us, solving the custody problem for cryptocurrencies was essential.”
The partners say Komainu can integrate with the technical systems used by financial institutions and will only accept clients and tokens that successfully pass strict anti-money laundering (AML) controls and provenance checks.
Komainu’s leadership team includes Kenton Farmer, who heads operations; he previously worked at Hermes Fund Managers and Credit Suisse. Andrew Morfill, the former global head of cyber defense at Santander, will serve as head of information security. Susan Patterson, who has regulatory experience at Credit Suisse, Brevan Howard and UBS, will be chief regulatory officer.
Nomura Holdings has been a financial services provider for more than 95 years. In 2019, a controversy involving former Nomura bankers brought the brand into the spotlight and was regarded as one of Italy’s major financial scandals.
Translated by Carolane de Palmas