Animoca Brands — a Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming, metaverse and non-fungible token (NFT) company — said it held US$15.87 billion worth of digital assets at the end of November, reflecting robust growth in its metaverse business units.
Fast facts
- Animoca Brands said in a statement released Wednesday that in the first three quarters of this year, it recorded US$140 million in bookings. The company’s other income, including gains on investments and digital assets, accounted for US$529.6 million in the first nine months.
- Animoca is involved in a variety of blockchain and metaverse projects, including REVV Racing, The Sandbox and GAMEE.
- Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, wrote today in a LinkedIn post that the results “reinforce our view that building the open metaverse — which encompasses a multitude of metaverses within it — is extremely similar to building an entirely new society, akin to a community-based nation.”
- In another blog post published today, Siu said the nine-month financial information “signals not only the transformation of our business, but also that of the wider industry, suggesting that the new future economy that we have talked about so frequently is well on track to becoming a reality.”
- Meanwhile, Animoca has appeared to gain traction among the investment community in Hong Kong. Today, Adrian Cheng, CEO of New World Development, one of Hong Kong’s major property developers, announced that he is joining and investing in The Sandbox.
- The Hong Kong real estate tycoon will own one of the biggest plots in The Sandbox — a platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to explore a virtual world using NFTs, according to a statement. Specifically, Cheng’s land in the metaverse will form part of the “Mega City” virtual world that will include Cheng’s innovation hub, a place for various Greater Bay Area startups to showcase their creativity and visions.
- “Providing platforms for the next generation to be empowered to create, innovate and feel part of something that’s paving the way for the future is critical to progress,” Cheng said in the statement. “The digital world is constantly evolving and we need to stay at the forefront of these changes by continuously exploring and developing the metaverse.”
- Cheng, also a co-founding partner of C Ventures, has personally invested in a wide range of technology, healthcare and consumer-related companies.