Nomura institutional investor survey: 65% view crypto assets as a key diversification allocation, and nearly 80% plan to enter within three years

According to the 2026 institutional investor survey released by Nomura Holdings and its subsidiary Laser Digital on April 16 and featured in a CoinDesk special report, among 518 Japanese institutional investors, family offices, and professional investors at charitable organizations, 65% view crypto assets as a key diversification allocation tool alongside stocks, bonds, and commodities—up 3 percentage points from 62% in 2024. The survey shows that institutional sentiment toward crypto assets is entering a period of steady upward momentum, driven by regulatory clarity and new products (ETFs, staking, and lending).

Low correlation is the main investment incentive

The most critical finding of the survey is this: the top reason respondents choose crypto assets is “diversification,” with an emphasis on the low correlation between crypto and other asset classes. This overturns the single positioning around 2021—when “crypto is a high-risk growth asset”—and, in an environment where global interest rates, geopolitical risk, and AI stock concentration are rising, crypto is being reinterpreted by institutions as a “non-correlated asset,” with characteristics similar to gold, commodities, or alternative investments.

In terms of specific allocations, among respondents planning to invest in crypto within the next three years, 79% already have concrete execution plans (not just in concept), and 60% expect to allocate 2%–5% of total assets to crypto assets. Based on the overall asset size of Japanese institutional investors, this would translate into a sizable stream of passive buy-side demand, echoing the types of moves seen on Wall Street such as Goldman Sachs’s filing for a bitcoin yield ETF, etc.

All four sub-themes of interest exceed 60%

Respondents’ interest in internal crypto sub-themes far exceeds any single allocation to spot BTC/ETH: staking/mining 66%, lending/mortgage lending 65%, derivatives 63%, and tokenized assets 65%—all four themes are of interest to more than half. This implies that the second phase of allocation by Japanese institutions will shift from “holding” to “yield-oriented” and “structured products,” driving CEXs, DEXs, staking service providers, and RWA tokenization platforms to benefit in parallel.

Japanese regulation is pushing stronger allocation intent

Japan’s regulatory environment is an important background for the improvement in sentiment this time. This April, Japan passed amendments to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, officially classifying crypto assets as financial instruments—see the complete analysis in the article Japan’s amended Financial Instruments and Exchange Act—while also assessing the timeline for the approval of crypto ETFs in 2028. For institutions, the confirmation of legal status and the opening of the ETF channel mean that more stringent investors such as trusts, retirement funds, and insurance can enter through existing compliance processes.

Obstacles remain clear as well

The survey also points out that the main obstacles to institutional involvement in crypto still include: tax structures remaining unfavorable for long-term corporate holding, the heavy workload of internal risk control (KYC/custody/accounting), and the fact that some institutions’ articles of incorporation have not yet been amended. Nomura briefly reduced Laser Digital’s crypto exposure in 2025 Q3, but did not exit the space, suggesting that the pace of institutional capital entry may not be a linear ramp-up, but instead allocation that fluctuates with market conditions—consistent with the 65% positioning of crypto as a “diversification tool.” For the crypto product side, the next wave of incremental demand will not come from retail enthusiasm, but from institutional demand for “low correlation, configurable allocation, and accountability” (i.e., that it can be accounted for on the balance sheet).

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