According to news sources, Steve Ashley, the head of Nomura of trading and investment banking in London, has resigned from his position and will be replaced by another inside the bank’s cryptocurrency division. The newly founded Laser Digital Holdings is expected to have Ashley as its chairman. Jez Mohideen oversees the bank’s cryptocurrency division and will take over as the organization’s CEO. Plan to Enter Crypto Space According to reports earlier this year, the bank was planning a deliberate entry into the cryptocurrency space and had laid up a hiring plan for about 100 employees to join a new digital asset firm by the end of 2023. The Financial Times reported at the time that plans included hiring individuals from outside the bank to head the company. Later, in a news release, Ashley claimed that the new business would help the bank establish an advantage with institutional clients. It announced the launch of a brand-new business dealing in digital assets that would provide institutional clients with a full range of trading, investor products, and investment services. Nomura Established Crypto Subsidiary in Japan Ashley has recently been in charge of his division’s extensive cost-cutting effort. After the Japanese investment bank suffered significant losses in 2018, over 350 positions were terminated in 2019. Nomura created a new subsidiary company to let institutional clients buy bitcoin and other non-fungible tokens (NF...