Komainu
Komainu is a custodian for digital assets that Nomura, CoinShares and Ledger founded in 2018 as a joint venture for financial institutions. Banks, asset managers and fund issuers keep their crypto assets in segregated wallets at Komainu and can stake, trade or borrow against them from there. The name comes from the lion-dogs that guard the gates of Shinto shrines in Japan.
Komainu has regulated companies in Jersey, the United Kingdom and Dubai and is registered with the OAM in Italy. Its backers are Laser Digital, the digital asset unit of Nomura, and Blockstream, which made a strategic investment in the Series B round of 75 million dollars in 2025.
Custodial staking for institutions
Komainu launched custodial staking at the start of 2022, so that clients earn network rewards while their assets stay in segregated, regulated wallets on the blockchain. The platform automates delegation and the reinvestment of rewards, and the Komainu Portal shows reward data and produces accounting reports. Clients can stake ether, Solana, Polkadot, Tezos, Polygon, Hyperliquid, Cardano and Cosmos on the platform.
Komainu works with several external validator operators that run the nodes for its staking clients. Figment joined in 2023 for Solana and Polkadot, Kiln stakes Ethereum for Komainu clients and also covers Tezos, and the operator P2P.org added its validators and the HYPE token. The operators provide a validator service without custody, so the staked assets remain in the custody account of the client at Komainu.
Trading and collateral from custody
Komainu Connect lets a client trade, borrow or lend through partner venues while the assets stay in custody, so no balance has to sit on an exchange. Komainu CORE turns digital assets in custody into collateral for loans and trades under the rules of the custodian. Both services use the same segregated wallets that also hold the staked assets of the client.
Upcoming blockchain and digital asset events in Germany
Licenses in Jersey, the UK and Dubai
Komainu (Jersey) Limited is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for fund services business and as a virtual asset service provider. Komainu (UK) Limited is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Dubai company holds a license from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority for custody that includes custodial staking. In 2025 Komainu also entered the OAM register for crypto service providers in Italy.
Tokenized funds in custody
Aviva Investors chose Komainu as infrastructure partner for the tokenized share class of its US Dollar Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger. One of the three founders, CoinShares, has used Komainu to hold the assets behind its exchange-traded products, including products on staked Tezos and Polkadot. In both cases the tokens or coins sit in Komainu custody while a regulated fund or product issuer sells the shares to investors.
Who leads Komainu?
Paul Frost-Smith and Robert Johnson lead Komainu as co-chief executives, and Robert Johnson is also chief technology officer. Paul Frost-Smith held senior positions at JPMorgan, Credit Suisse and Swiss Re, and Robert Johnson spent 18 years at MUFG Securities. Tony Larkin is chief financial officer, and Adam Back, the chief executive of Blockstream, sits on the board.
Komainu and Finance Loop
Finance Loop covers custody, staking and tokenized funds in the track Investment & Digital Assets. Komainu is a custodian that a Japanese bank group co-founded, and it combines regulated safekeeping with staking for institutional investors.
Finance Loop is a professional network and has the goal of driving the institutional use of emerging technologies in finance, such as AI, tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi. Finance Loop helps its members build skills and personal networks in these fields: Investment & Digital Assets, Payments & Digital Money, Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty, and Risk & Compliance.