“There is a significant opportunity in Asia. In the next two-to-three years, a lot of crypto growth will come through the East as opposed to the West,” Mohideen told Financial News. “Asia benefitted from what happened in the US and realised the things they need to avoid.”

In September 2022, Nomura launched its crypto offshoot Laser Digital, registering the firm in Switzerland. Mohideen said Laser Digital chose Switzerland due to “mature” rules for the sector.

“We feel very comfortable speaking to regulators in Switzerland. The crypto community is very stable due to clear regulations,” he said.

Mohideen started his career at Barclays in 1997. He later joined RBS International before founding investment firm Eclipse Capital Partners in February 2013. Mohideen joined hedge fund Brevan Howard as a partner the following year.

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“When I was at Brevan Howard, we were looking at a number of different projects from Ripple to Galaxy Digital and CoinShares. When I came into Nomura, I said that crypto is an asset class we need to take a look at,” he said.  “Crypto is just an extension of the traditional asset class. I believe that the entire real-world assets will get tokenised. Crypto and traditional finance will co-exist.”

Despite regulatory challenges and a bear market for much of 2022, professional investors have turned bullish on crypto. According to a Laser Digital survey, 88% of professional investors say their clients are considering investing in digital assets.

But while there is optimism around crypto, compliance issues remain, according to Mohideen.

Last week, Binance and Coinbase were both sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission over claims they operated unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies.

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“Lot of crypto businesses are exposing themselves to risks by co-mingling different functions without segregation like custody, brokerage, and exchange all in one vertical. So if one function fails, everything fails, which we saw last year,” Mohideen said. “You have to segregate different functions within a crypto firm. In traditional finance, you will see clear segregation so there is no contagion.”

Amid a regulatory crackdown by the SEC, crypto assets faced the heat of negative sentiment. Binance’s crypto coin BNB has plunged by roughly 25% since 5 June. The overall crypto market’s capitalisation has dropped by over $100bn since the SEC’s action.

It is important for crypto firms to work with regulators to “build the industry” according to Mohideen.

To contact the author of this story with feedback or news, email Bilal Jafar