The future of Animoca Brands: Interview with Yat Siu

Yat Siu, Animoca Brands’ Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, takes the call for this interview when it’s 11 PM in Hong Kong. We met in Davos last time, for the World Economic Forum 2025. He looks fresh, as always, and speaks with a clear mind and laser focus. The first item on my list of questions is, of course, the news of the reverse merger with Currenc Group (listed at Nasdaq; CURR). Upon completion of the reverse merger, Animoca Brands shareholders would see their shares represent 95% of the newly issued stock of the two entities combined. The reverse merger is ongoing, so it’s a good moment to sit down and chat with the man behind one of the world’s largest platforms comprising blockchain, AI and Web3 companies.

Animoca Brands is preparing to step up its game, advancing more strongly into AI and FinTech. The move is smart and strategic. Currenc is a FinTech pioneer, dedicated to transforming global financial services through AI. Currenc empowers financial institutions worldwide with comprehensive AI solutions      to reduce costs, increase efficiency and boost customer satisfaction. Its digital remittance platform also enables e-wallets, remittance companies, and corporations to provide real-time, 24/7 global payment services, advancing financial access across underserved communities. Its strategic base is in Singapore. We definitely want to know more. This is our exchange.

Tell us about the big news, the Nasdaq listing and the plan behind it 

It’s a reverse merger, as you read in the news. Animoca Brands will end up owning 95% of the future company. Sure, it’s a new marriage, but we are driving this change. I am not worried about enlarging the list of shareholders. We are already very decentralized, with more than 3,000 shareholders. I have something like 11-12% of the company I created. It doesn’t really make a big difference to our culture and set-up. Animoca Brands has always been run by consensus.

Now, why did we do it? Currenc is a FinTech company with 13+ million customers in Malaysia, Philippines and so forth. They already have solid business relationships with the likes of Ripple. The deal is truly strategic. Of course, we always wanted to go public in the US, and the process will be faster now because Currenc is already listed on Nasdaq. During negotiations, you have to be silent and allow all details to be ironed out. Obviously, rumors spread. The media makes assumptions, and there are cases where silence may be interpreted as weakness. Anyways, now it’s all public, and we can explain and share our vision.

Last time we spoke about crypto. Now Genius and Clarity Acts are here. Are stablecoins the future of finance?Centralbank currencies have a role to play?  

I amoptimistic about the role of stablecoins in finance. Crypto has become much more institutional this year. It also means that crypto is now much more affected by what institutions do. This is theflip side. Traditional finance (TradFi), including real estate and wealth management, is a 300 to 400 USD trillion market. Crypto is still small next to that but is now more closely linked to TradFi and global policies, meaning it will be impacted by developments in those industries. All in all, I believe we are seeing good progress. Trump is a big supporter of Crypto despite the fact that the crypto industry is far from being the top item on his busy agenda. I think that the Clarity Act will pass. 2025 represents the first year that crypto has become embedded in US policies.

Now, stablecoins are going to be a pillar of future financial growth, for sure. When the Clarity Act gets approved, tokens will also become more widespread, more popular. This will force other countries to also accept stablecoins and tokens. Like for the internet, or even fax machines, once the US adopts a new technological advancement, the world follows.

Central banks’ digital currencies (CBDC) are centralized but not totally separated from the rest of the economy. Stablecoins have larger scale and will play a role for sure. The thing is that the US gets it. In light of the 2025 developments, the US dollar has become even more important on a global scale because it is the fiat currency most closely associated with technological and financial innovation. Global customers need to do business using the US dollar as a basis, anywhere in the world. Economies and markets can become faster and more efficient by adopting stablecoins. The world is already US dollar ready. So to speak, stablecoins will almost “colonize” other economies into the US dollar. The EU is dependent on US tech and doesn’t have a comparable stablecoin plan. From a financial point of view, this is a significant risk for the EU, which could see the union lose important ground to the US in financial matters. The proposed EU CBDC may not be the best answer to step up the EU’s global competitiveness.

We spoke about the US and the EU.What’syour view of Asia?

The gateway to mainland ChinaremainsHong Kong. Hong Kong has its own Stablecoin Act. It’s here that China talks to the world. All of Asia is moving forward. In Asia we already have the highest      numbers of crypto users. Asia is moving the fastest on topics like tokenization. In China, digital payments are already dominant, and the digital transformation of banks and banking systems is highly advanced. India is not on par with China, at least not yet. Crypto grows fast in India, yes, but it is due to the country’s lack of a strong TradFi infrastructure. South-East Asia and China are leading the way. China is the APAC powerhouse and has plans for a central currency, but it’s entirely different vs. the EU one. The Chinese central currency caters to the domestic market. China is an almost cashless society, comparatively speaking. A digital currency is in sync with the current Chinese cultural approach to money.

Going into Web3,what’sleft of the word Metaverse? Is there a revamp now that AR and VR will be AI powered?

Our stance on the metaverseremainsunchanged. Metaverse means Web3 and crypto, which       means true ownership of digital property. A device like AR or VR is just an interface: it’s not the digital world, but merely one of the ways we can access the digital world.

Do we think we will be more digital in the future? Yes. Will we own more of our digital life? Yes, and that’s why we believe in and support tokenization. There is still a lot of education needed in this space.

For businesses, it is fundamental to embrace tokenization. Those that do not will lose to companies that understand the relevance of the digital space and of digital ownership. Even AI solutions and services will use tokens as their native asset class. Blockchain is permissionless and gives you certainty. For AI, blockchain is like antitrust laws and regulations. We will live in a world that is decentralized and co-created, even if it is AI-powered. AI will need order and checks; blockchain is the grid that will allow AI to function and be monitored.

From the new listing to the clear strategic move into AI and FinTech,AnimocaBrands never rests. Yat Siu leads a group of challengers and change-makers, with the usual clarity of mind and focus on empowering everyone to own their agency and thrive in a future physical and digital world. If 2025 was turnkey, 2026 will be even more effervescent for crypto and blockchain enthusiasts.