Japan's Nomura Invests in Line's LVC to Develop Blockchain Financial Services

In an announcement dated Oct. 4, Nomura Holdings, the parent company of Nomura Securities, said it made an investment in LVC, a subsidiary of South Korean-controlled Line, following an agreement signed on Sept. 24.

Nomura said that the venture will be developing financial services utilizing blockchain technology.

The partnership will make use of Line's large user base-81 million in Japan-and well-developed user experience and Nomura's financial experience and expertise.

The release also mentions LVC's Bitmax exchange, which went live on Sept. 17, less than two weeks after receiving approval from Japan's Financial Services Agency.

The earlier disclosure mentions that LVC's capital will be increased through a placement of new shares to Nomura.

In the recent release, the company's capital is listed as 5.06 billion yen as of Oct. 4.

2019, suggesting that Nomura may have invested almost 4 billion yen in the company.

Nomura has been on a tear for some time in terms of blockchain investment.

In July this year, the company invested in San Francisco-based Quantstamp, a smart-contract security company, and in September this year, it set up Boostry with Nomura Research Institute.

Just last week, Nomura and five other brokerages formed a self-regulatory organization for crypto offerings.