Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based digital assets investor known for backing blockchain games and NFT platforms, is planning a public listing in New York, as it looks to seize what its executive chair, Yat Siu, calls a “unique moment” for crypto firms in the United States under Donald Trump’s presidency.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Siu said the company was actively exploring a range of shareholding structures for a potential IPO and that an announcement could come “soon.”
He emphasized that the move wasn’t dependent on prevailing market conditions. “It’s the biggest market, so we should go there, right?” Siu said. “It’s a unique moment in time. I feel like it would be one heck of a wasted opportunity if we didn’t at least try.”
The push comes as Trump, in his return to office, adopts a friendlier stance toward the digital assets sector, marking a stark contrast to the enforcement-heavy approach under former President Joe Biden. Since Trump’s election last November, bitcoin has surged more than 50% and recently crossed the $102,000 mark, underscoring renewed investor confidence in crypto-friendly US policies.
Siu argued that Biden-era crackdowns dampened innovation in the US, ultimately giving overseas firms like Animoca an edge. “If the US didn’t do what they did with the regulators [under Biden], we probably would have competitors in the US,” he said. “Normally we’d be fighting with some giant or something.”
The company, once listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, was delisted in 2020 over concerns about its governance and the legal ambiguity around some of its crypto holdings. Since then, Animoca has evolved from a game developer into a major investor across the blockchain ecosystem.
It now holds equity in more than 540 companies, including OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace; US-based crypto exchange Kraken; and blockchain infrastructure firm Consensys.
Animoca has been mulling a return to public markets since last year. The current US regulatory landscape under Trump, marked by the dismissal of several enforcement cases and a push to establish the country as the global center for digital assets, appears to have accelerated those plans.
Siu noted that some of the firm’s portfolio companies, including Kraken, are also weighing US listings later this year or in early 2026.
In 2022, Animoca raised capital across multiple funding rounds at a private valuation just under $6 billion. Since then, the broader recovery in digital assets and equities has lifted the valuation environment. For the year ending December, Animoca reported unaudited revenues of $314 million and EBITDA of $97 million — up from $280 million and $34 million, respectively, the previous year.
The company also disclosed a war chest of nearly $300 million in cash and stablecoins, along with $538 million in digital assets. Siu said the firm’s diversified operations now make it a distinctive player in the crypto space. “We think we’re the biggest non-financial services crypto firm,” he said. “I think going public is a way to tell the world that ‘hey there’s a business that is in crypto that isn’t doing the typical crypto stuff’.”
As the gaming industry anticipates a new console cycle and blockbuster releases such as Grand Theft Auto VI, Siu expects further synergies between crypto and interactive entertainment. Animoca sees these developments as catalysts for increased adoption of blockchain-based payments and tokenized assets in gaming — a sector it has heavily invested in.
With momentum shifting and Washington offering a more permissive environment, Animoca appears ready to make its move.
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