Nomura survey finds over half of Japan’s investment managers plan to invest in crypto

Nomura Holdings, Japan’s largest brokerage, and its digital asset arm, Laser Digital, today released a survey showing that over half of the investment manager respondents intend to invest in crypto assets over the next three years.

The survey — conducted in April with over 500 investment managers in Japan — found that 54% of the respondents were interested in investing in crypto over the next three years to stabilize their portfolios while reducing risk through diversification and hedging against inflation. 

About 25% of the respondents said that they held a positive impression of cryptocurrencies, especially bitcoin and ether, while 62% saw crypto assets as a diversification opportunity.

The survey was conducted following the Japanese cabinet's approval of a proposal in February to add crypto to the list of assets that local investment limited partnerships are allowed to acquire or hold. The revision to the Limited Partnerships Act is expected later this year, Nomura said in a separate statement on Monday.

Nomura’s study also showed that for respondents investing in or considering investing in crypto assets, the primary drivers for future investment include the development of a variety of products such as exchange-traded funds, investment trusts, staking, lending and other financial products.

As part of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s “new capitalism” economic policy, Kishida has said that the country is pushing to develop its Web3 industry. In December, the government approved a tax regime revision that seeks to exclude corporations from paying tax on unrealized crypto gains if they hold the assets longer-term.