Company and ownership
Komainu was founded in 2018 as a joint venture of Nomura, CoinShares and Ledger, and it obtained its JFSC license in 2019. The company is headquartered in St Helier, Jersey, with offices in London, Dubai and Singapore. Alan Howard led the $25 million Series A in March 2021, with Galaxy Digital and Nomura Research Institute among the other investors. In January 2025 Komainu closed a $75 million Series B from Blockstream Capital Partners, funded in bitcoin and subject to regulatory approvals. Disclosed funding totals $100 million.
Komainu is backed by Laser Digital, a Nomura company, and by Blockstream Capital Partners. Laser Digital and Blockstream Capital Partners each have two directors on the board, which also includes Adam Back of Blockstream and Paul Frost-Smith. The About page lists Frost-Smith and Robert Johnson as co-CEOs, with Johnson also serving as CTO, while Komainu's 2026 press releases title Frost-Smith Group Managing Director. Johnson joined as CTO in October 2023 and became interim CEO in February 2024, when Nicolas Bertrand stepped down for personal reasons.
Custody model and security
Komainu offers both hardware security modules and multi-party computation for key management. The HSMs use a dual-chip architecture, with firmware integrity guaranteed by cryptographic attestation. MPC wallets come in hot/warm and offline air-gapped versions, and the offline wallets sign transactions by scanning QR codes in both directions. Transaction authorization certificates sit on CC EAL5+ air-gapped devices, and seed material is stored in geographically remote bullion vaults.
Client assets are held off balance sheet in segregated, bankruptcy-remote on-chain wallets. The platform uses maker/checker controls, and a risk engine runs automated transaction and whitelist screening that supports Travel Rule compliance. Komainu holds SOC 1 Type II and SOC 2 Type II attestations along with ISO 27001 certification and runs regular external penetration tests.
Regulation and insurance
Komainu (Jersey) Limited is regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for fund services business in the custodian and depositary classes (FSB2292), and it is registered as a virtual asset service provider (SCH2158). In Dubai, Komainu MEA FZE has held VARA VASP license VL/23/08/001 since August 18, 2023. The license covers virtual asset custody, including custodial staking and collateral wallets, and limits the firm to institutional and qualified investors. Komainu UK Limited is registered with the FCA under the Money Laundering Regulations, FRN 985974.
Komainu says it is in its seventh year of buying insurance. Beyond that cover, it has an agreement for up to $820 million of specie capacity that clients can use to buy their own ring-fenced policies.
Products and integrations
Custody covers more than 40 native blockchains and over 6,000 tokens. Komainu Connect lets clients use assets in segregated custody wallets as collateral for trading and lending, under account control agreements, so third-party venues need no pre-funding. Partners shown include Deribit, Bybit, LTP and Ripple Prime. The service accepts 13 listed collateral assets, among them BTC, ETH, USDC, USDe, BUIDL and USYC, and Figure's YLDS is also eligible.
Custodial staking covers ETH, SOL, DOT, XTZ, POL, HYPE, ADA and ATOM through five providers, including Kiln and Figment, and staked assets stay in segregated wallets. Komainu CORE turns holdings into collateral as a turnkey product, with API access to asset data, and developer documentation is live at version 1.6. In July 2026 Aviva Investors chose Komainu as infrastructure partner for a tokenized share class of its US Dollar Liquidity Fund on the XRP Ledger.
