According to TheBlock, Nomura's new crypto trading unit, called Laser Digital, plans to pause its hiring plans while it focuses on rolling out its first products.

The Switzerland-based operation is creating bitcoin and ether-focused crypto funds and exchange-traded fund products — and hopes to gain regulatory approval for the first one by mid-2023.

The team has around 50 people, including 10 joining in the coming months. Laser Digital, which is segregated from the rest of the Japanese bank, recently reviewed staff numbers and decided that an earlier target of 100 hires was no longer appropriate, co-founder Jez Mohideen told The Block.

Expanding the headcount depends on whether ''the market is in a healthy shape,'' he said.