Digital Securities
SBI Holdings Acquires 10% Stake from Nomura Holdings in Digital Securities Platform ‘Boostry’
This week, publicly traded Nomura Holdings, Inc. (Nomura) announced that Japanese powerhouse SBI Holdings, Inc. (SBI) has committed to investing 10% in Nomura's blockchain product, Boostry. Boostry is a blockchain-based platform for issuing and exchanging digital securities.
The SBI investment in Boostry and other digital security partnerships and investments (Securitize, Boerse Stuttgart, etc.) indicate that SBI believes in the future of digital securities.
Boostry
Boostry originated as a joint venture between Nomura Holdings, Inc. and the Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. (NRI). It was developed with the goal of facilitating the issuance and trading of digital securities, through the use of blockchain.
Notably, since November of 2019, Boostry has been used to power iBet, a digital bilateral trading and issuance platform for financial products such as corporate bonds.
Holdings Breakdown
With the announcement of SBI's 10% investment, Boostry will see a new equity structuring, as their founding duo becomes a trio.
Previously, Boostry was structured as follows:
- 66% held by Nomura Holdings
- 34% held by NRI
With the entrance of SBI, we see the following change:
- 56% held by Nomura Holdings, Inc.
- 34% held by Nomura research Institute, Ltd.
- 10% held by SBI Holdings, Inc.
Under this new structuring, Nomura indicates that SBI will not be a silent partner. Rather, the trio will work together, lending expertise to develop and build Boostry.
Commentary
Upon announcing this newly forged alliance, Nomura touched on the reasoning behind the move. They indicate that the aim of this trio is to, “…use the companies’ expertise, skills, personnel and other resources to jointly create a platform in Japan for security token transactions and promote digital asset related businesses through BOOSTRY to facilitate such transactions.”
Japan Security Token Association
SBI is a member of the Japan Security Token Association (JSTA). This is a growing group of like-minded companies, which hope to develop and foster the digital securities sector, within the nation.
Beyond SBI, a few well-known members include,
The JSTA is not to be confused with another association sharing similar goals, known as the Japan Security Token Offering Association (JSTOA). While the JSTA operates with a focus on developing the digital securities sector as a whole, the JSTOA is a self-regulatory association geared towards helping broker/dealers remain regulatory compliant.
Just months ago, the JSTOA released a set of guidelines addressing regulation compliance among industry participants.
Nomura Holdings, Inc.
Since being founded in 1925, Nomura Holdings has developed a global presence, with operations in over 30 countries. From its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Nomura Holdings operates primarily as a financial service provider.
CEO, Kentaro Okuda, currently oversees company operations.
SBI Holdings, Inc.
Launched in 1999, SBI Holdings is a subsidiary of SBI Group. From its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, SBI Holdings actively seeks out partnerships with high potential companies.
CEO, Yoshitaka Kitao, currently oversees company operations.
