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Nomura's Laser Digital invests in ZIGChain for onchain private credit push
The partnership targets streamlined private credit access across Gulf states, including Sharia-compliant offerings, with Laser Digital’s investment understood to be in the single-digit millions.
Nomura Group’s digital assets arm, Laser Digital, has made a strategic investment in ZIGChain, a UAE-based Layer 1 blockchain focused on institutional onchain private credit. According to CoinDesk, the investment amount was not disclosed, but it was understood to be in the single-digit millions.
The firms also announced a partnership aimed at streamlining private credit markets across Gulf states, including Sharia-compliant offerings. ZIGChain co-founder Abdul Rafay Gadit said the effort is designed to improve accessibility to financial services by using crypto and tokenization.
CoinDesk reports that the collaboration includes a risk framework and governance model for a pipeline of institutional onchain vault products. The plan comes as Laser Digital has already tightened risk limits earlier this year, after crypto losses dragged down Nomura’s quarterly profit, which the market read as a retreat.
ZIGChain’s co-founder also highlighted a perceived gap in the Middle East private credit market, saying borrowers struggle to access funding through normal banks while potential lenders may not know those opportunities exist, or can only reach them through large, high-fee funds.