Nomura-Backed Laser Digital Unveils Tokenised Bitcoin Yield Fund: Targeting Excess Returns in Digital Asset Revolution

Wall Street meets crypto—again. Only this time, it’s bringing a structured product designed to squeeze yield from Bitcoin’s idle potential. Laser Digital, the crypto arm of Japanese banking giant Nomura, just launched a tokenised Bitcoin yield fund. Forget HODLing; this is about putting your BTC to work.

The Pitch: Active Over Passive

Laser’s fund isn’t another passive ETF clone. It’s actively managed, targeting what they call “excess returns”—jargon for beating the market. The strategy? A multi-faceted approach combining staking, lending, and other yield-generating protocols across the decentralised finance landscape. It’s a bet that professional, risk-managed capital allocation can outperform simple spot exposure.

Tokenisation: The Key Differentiator

Here’s the twist: the fund interests are tokenised. That means ownership is represented on a blockchain, promising greater liquidity, faster settlement, and potential integration with other DeFi applications. It’s a fund built for the rails of the future, not the legacy systems of the past. A quiet nod that the old infrastructure is, frankly, too slow and expensive for this asset class.

Why It Matters: Institutional Validation 2.0

Nomura’s backing isn’t just a name on a press release. It’s a signal of deepening institutional comfort with crypto-native structures. This isn’t just buying Bitcoin; it’s engaging with its financial ecosystem. Regulators are watching, and products like this from licensed entities help build the rulebook for the next era of finance—one where traditional and digital assets merge.

The Bottom Line

Laser Digital’s move is a sophisticated play for yield-starved capital. It acknowledges that crypto’s real value isn’t just in price appreciation but in its ability to create entirely new financial mechanics. Of course, it also creates a nice fee-generating vehicle—proving some traditions, like charging for asset management, are truly blockchain-agnostic. The race to professionalize crypto yield is officially on, and the old guard is now building the tracks.

First Natively Tokenised Bitcoin Yield Fund

Laser Digital said BDYF is the world’s first natively tokenised Cayman-domiciled Bitcoin yield fund. Unlike traditional tokenised structures that rely on special purpose vehicles or feeder funds, the tokenised share class is issued directly at the main fund level, enabling on-chain ownership alongside traditional share classes.

Tokenisation is handled exclusively by KAIO, while Komainu serves as the fund’s main custodian. The structure allows for in-kind contributions, atomic settlement and streamlined on-chain fund administration, according to the firm.

Strategy: Growth Plus Income

The fund is designed to maintain long-term, long-only exposure to Bitcoin while actively monetising carry-like opportunities through diversified market-neutral strategies, including arbitrage, lending and options.

Laser Digital said the strategy prioritises capital preservation over yield chasing, with institutional-grade risk controls intended to ensure income generation does not compromise the safekeeping of underlying BTC.

The fund targets long-term Bitcoin holders such as digital-asset treasury entities, traditional institutions and sovereign allocators, with a goal of delivering more than 5% excess net returns over BTC performance across rolling 12-month periods, depending on market conditions.

Why Launch Now

Laser Digital said the launch reflects Bitcoin’s maturation into a mainstream institutional asset with deep liquidity and increasingly robust market infrastructure.

At the same time, macro uncertainty, persistent inflation risk and rising correlations across traditional asset classes are pushing allocators to seek diversifiers that can also generate income.

The objective, the firm said, is to turn a passive Bitcoin allocation into a more capital-efficient exposure that retains upside participation while producing a sustainable income stream aligned with institutional mandates.

Executive Commentary

Jez Mohideen, co-founder and CEO of Laser Digital, said recent volatility has highlighted growing demand for yield-bearing crypto strategies. “Yield-bearing, market-neutral funds built on calculated DeFi strategies are the natural evolution of crypto asset management,” he said.

Sebastien Guglietta, head of Laser Digital Asset Management, adds that while Bitcoin functions as a store of value it does not naturally generate yield. “Our strategy seeks to address that gap by offering a sustainable income stream for long-term Bitcoin holders,” he said.

Regulatory and Product Line Context

Laser Digital Middle East FZE, a regulated virtual asset service provider under Dubai’s VARA regime, acts as investment manager to the fund.

BDYF joins the firm’s existing actively managed strategies, including the Laser Digital Carry Fund and the Multi-Strategy Fund, as part of its expanding institutional digital asset offering.

In October it emerged Nomura Holdings is preparing to deepen its presence in Japan’s digital asset market as crypto activity surges, with its wholly owned subsidiary Laser Digital Holdings seeking a license to offer trading services to institutional clients.

Nomura’s Swiss-based unit Laser Digital is seeking a license in Japan to offer institutional crypto trading, signaling confidence in the country’s digital asset market.#japan #nomura https://t.co/wVDTAt8jvk