Nomura’s Laser Digital to Govern Risk for DeFi Fixed Income Markets on Euler Finance

Nomura’s digital asset arm, Laser Digital, will act as the risk governor for new institutional lending markets built on decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure, with the first markets set to launch on Euler Finance.

DeFi refers to financial services like lending and borrowing that run on blockchain technology without traditional intermediaries such as banks. The partnership with Keyring Network aims to address barriers that currently prevent large institutions from participating in DeFi lending.

How the partnership works

Keyring Network will provide the technical infrastructure, including access controls, risk modeling, and liquidation frameworks. Laser Digital’s asset management division will oversee governance, portfolio structuring, and market practices, with responsibilities defined on a per-contract basis.

Four key challenges for institutions

The companies highlight four obstacles keeping institutions out of DeFi lending: unrestricted access to counterparties, smart contract exploit risks, limited governance oversight, and settlement mismatches with off-chain processes. Their solution combines zero-knowledge identity verification, quantitative risk modeling, cyber insurance, and Keyring’s settlement technology, called [un]wind.

First markets ready on Euler Finance

The first lending markets are prepared to go live on Euler Finance, a DeFi protocol that currently holds $368.8 million in total value locked across 17 blockchains, according to DefiLlama. Euler has $555.4 million in outstanding loans, with most activity on the Monad, Ethereum, and Base networks. No launch date, committed capital, fee terms, or participant details have been disclosed.

Industry context

Laser Digital has been expanding into credit-related initiatives, including backing ZIGChain’s emerging-market private credit push in August. Keyring Network previously introduced a zero-knowledge identity layer for DeFi vaults on Avalanche in August 2025. Nomura established Laser Digital in 2022, operating it from Dubai and Switzerland.

What is confirmed

• Laser Digital will serve as risk governor for institutional DeFi lending markets built with Keyring Network.
• The first markets are ready to launch on Euler Finance, with plans to expand to other partners.
• Keyring provides infrastructure, while Laser Digital handles governance and risk parameters.
• Euler Finance holds $368.8 million in total value locked and $555.4 million in outstanding borrows across 17 chains.

What is still unclear

• The exact launch date for the new markets.
• The amount of capital committed or the fee structure.
• The names of borrowers or lenders involved.

Why this matters

The partnership aims to make DeFi lending more accessible to institutions by addressing compliance, risk, and settlement challenges. Fixed income, a massive global market, remains largely untapped in tokenized form, and the collaboration seeks to bridge traditional finance with on-chain efficiency.

Sources

• The Defiant