Japan's SMBC Nikko to Build DeFi Gateway for Investors

SMBC Nikko Securities, Japan's third-largest securities company, has partnered with four parties to create a decentralized finance (DeFi) gateway for Japanese investors.

The memorandum of understanding was signed with Nethermind, Uniswap Labs, Base, and Nyx Foundation on Thursday, February 10, 2023, with a target completion date of mid-2027.

The gateway will utilize the hooks feature on Uniswap v4, which allows developers to add custom logic into liquidity pools.

Anti-money laundering controls, anti-terrorism financing, and investor protection are embedded directly at the pool level.

The partnership is led by SMBC Nikko and Nethermind, with SMBC Nikko handling regulatory dialogue and compliance architecture.

Nethermind is working on technical design, smart contract security, and hooks strategy.

The gateway will also feature verifiable AI-based vaults to manage positions within defined control limits.

Base, a stablecoin payment protocol for artificial intelligence agents, will be supported by the implementation and integration of x402.