Nomura’s Laser Digital backs ZIGChain for onchain private credit push in UAE

Laser Digital, the digital assets arm of the Japanese financial services firm Nomura Group, has made a strategic investment in ZIGChain, a UAE-based Layer1 blockchain that also works with cryptocurrency-friendly fund servicing giant Apex Group.

The exact size of Laser’s investment was not revealed, but it’s understood to be in the single-digit millions.

The strategic partnership, which aims to streamline private credit markets across the Gulf States, including Sharia-compliant offerings, is equally important, said ZIGChain co-founder Abdul Rafay Gadit.

After an initial meeting with Laser Digital CEO Jez Mohideen, Rafay Gadit said a shared vision emerged about the need for accessibility to financial services and the role crypto and tokenization can play – all of which was facilitated by the two firms’ Dubai connection.

“Laser is creating with us one of the largest on-chain products the Gulf countries have ever seen,” Rafay Gadit said in an interview. “It helps that we are based in Dubai and Laser is also in Dubai, and our offices are literally one kilometer apart.”

Crypto is in a tough spot right now, and the effects of a down market are being felt across the industry. In February of this year, Nomura tightened risk limits at Laser Digital after crypto losses dragged down quarterly profit. This was read by the market as a retreat, but Nomura indicated it would be staying in crypto, just with a more conservative approach.

To this end, Laser Digital’s investment and partnership with ZigChain delivers a comprehensive risk framework and governance across a pipeline of institutional onchain vault products, according to a statement.

Rafay Gadit said the private credit market in the Middle East faces a two-sided problem.

“Firstly, those who need money cannot raise it from the normal banks, and those who have money don’t know those opportunities exist,” he said. “And even if they know, it’s only approachable through very large funds that have extremely high fees and barriers to entry. We are democratizing that.”

Dr. Jez Mohideen, Co-founder and CEO, Laser Digital, said his firm has been watching the private credit category, and while the opportunity in onchain finance is real, execution risk has been consistently underestimated.

“ZIG Markets brings regional depth and an origination track record, and as an investor and partner, our role is to apply the same higher standards of institutional risk frameworks we use across our broader offerings,” Mohideen said. “The shared vision remains to make the next generation of asset management products accessible to those moving serious institutional capital.”