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Nomura Laser Supports Kelp DAO and RWA MANTRA Tokenization Blockchain – Ledger Insights
This week, Nomura Digital laser said it supports two digital asset initiatives, Kelp DAO and MANTRA chainwhich adds to its significant venture capital portfolio.
Last month he announced a partnership with Kelp DAO introduce re-staking in Laser digital funds. He has now co-led Kelp DAO’s $9 million financing alongside proprietary trading firm SCB (not Thai bank SCB).
MANTRA Chain aims for RWA tokenization
Furthermore, Digital laser has invested in MANTRA Chain, which is developing a permissionless layer-1 blockchain to tokenize real-world assets (RWA).
MANTRA closed $11 million in financing in March, making Laser Digital’s strategic investment an extension of that round.
“Laser Digital’s investment is not only financial, but represents support for our mission to make RWA accessible and usable through blockchain technology,” said John Patrick Mullin, CEO and co-founder of MANTRA. “Laser’s experience and network in the financial sectors will be invaluable as we expand our technology presence.”
The MANTRA chain is not yet active, but has recently launched its HongBai testnet. The testnet’s name is a reference to its headquarters in Dubai and satellite office in Hong Kong. Laser Digital is also present in Dubai, with licenses from VARA in Dubai it’s a approval in principle for a license from Abu Dhabi Global Market.
The MANTRA Chain contains built-in compliance modules, including KYC, decentralized identity and transaction monitoring, to support regulated digital assets. It uses Cosmos blockchain technology, designed with interoperability at its core.
While MANTRA Chain claims to be the first regulatory compliant chain in the Cosmos ecosystem, we’re not so sure. Figure technologies launched the Provenance blockchain in 2018. It also uses the Cosmos SDK and has several billion in regulated assets on-chain, including real estate debt and asset-backed securities.
In the meantime, Digital laser investments range from tokenization, asset management, cryptocurrencies, DeFi and the metaverse. On the tokenization front he is co-founder of Tokenization of free funds protocol. He also supported the Resolution protocol for asset management.