Nomura’s digital assets subsidiary, Laser Digital, has invested in Infinity, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol focused on institutional lending and borrowing.
Founded by Kevin Lepsoe, the former head of structuring at Morgan Stanley, Infinity provides an interest rate protocol that serves as the foundation for benchmark rates and institutional-grade lending, borrowing, and risk management in the DeFi sector. Infinity’s wholesale exchange facilitates inter-exchange clearing and offers both fixed and floating rate markets, along with enterprise-grade risk management leveraging hybrid on-chain and off-chain infrastructures.
This investment from Nomura’s Laser Digital signifies a strategic move by traditional investment banks into the institutional DeFi or ‘Hybrid Finance’ space.
“Infinity is building critical infrastructure for DeFi, and its protocol enabling price discovery and risk management within DeFi is transformative for institutions,” stated Olivier Dang, head of ventures at Laser Digital. “Infinity’s groundwork paves the way for institutional on-chain flows, new levels of rates and innovation in risk management, and we are eager to support their progress in the hybrid finance arena.”
The term Hybrid Finance refers to the integration of decentralized and centralized finance, which optimizes the scalability of on-chain transactions while employing off-chain risk management and computation. This combination allows users to leverage blockchain efficiencies while maintaining high-quality risk management.
Lepsoe emphasized the importance of addressing foundational gaps in DeFi, saying, “While DeFi 1.0 has made significant strides as a proof of concept, it currently lacks essential components such as interest rates, credit, and counterparty risk. Infinity aims to fill these gaps by offering a robust wholesale infrastructure and a mathematically complete financial markets protocol. This supports interoperability between protocols, the establishment of benchmark rates, innovative open-source products, and the seamless integration of traditional finance with DeFi.”
Nomura’s investment follows a $4.2 million seed round in Infinity, which included contributions from CMS, GSR, and Susquehanna, though the specific terms of Nomura’s investment were not disclosed.