Nomura Study Finds 65% of Institutional Investors See Crypto as a Key Portfolio Diversifier

Nomura Holdings and its digital-asset subsidiary Laser Digital have tracked Japanese institutional investor sentiment since June 2024. After Japan advanced discussions on crypto regulation in late 2025, whether institutions would add low-correlation crypto assets to their portfolios became an important gauge of asset-allocation trends and market capital flows.

Nomura Holdings and Laser Digital released the results on April 16, 2026. The survey polled 518 Japanese investment professionals between December 16, 2025, and January 29, 2026. It found that 31% were bullish on the year ahead and 65% viewed crypto as a diversification tool. Among respondents interested in investing within three years, 79% already had plans to do so, while 60% intended to allocate between 2% and less than 5% of their portfolios. No actual investment amounts were disclosed.