“Our corporate agility must take precedence”: Animoca Brands postpones its Nasdaq listing

Animoca Brands is not going public for now. The Hong Kong investment house behind the game The Sandbox, the MOCA token and more than 620 minority stakes suspended talks on its planned Nasdaq listing on September 22, 2026. The company has not named a date for a fresh attempt.

That removes the part of the story which had drawn most of the attention since November 2025. What remains is what stands in the company's own interim update of September 8: a portfolio book with a fair value of $411 million, a radically shrunken games business and a new blockchain for digital identity that has been running since September 29. These three parts decide what the Animoca name is worth today, and they tell a soberer story than any listing announcement.

What Animoca Brands is: an investment house with over 620 minority stakes

Animoca Brands started out in 2014 as a games developer and is today primarily a holding company. A holding company is a business whose activity consists mainly of holding and realising stakes in other firms rather than selling products itself. In its own interim update the company describes its position as minority stakes in over 620 portfolio companies across more than 20 sectors.

That figure is the core of the business model and at the same time its biggest valuation problem. Holding 620 small stakes, most of which have no market price, means working with estimates rather than quoted values. Animoca puts the fair value of those holdings at $411 million as at December 31, 2025. Alongside that the company reports $68 million in cash and stablecoins, digital assets of $177 million and off-balance-sheet token reserves of $306 million.

The best-known names in that book are The Sandbox, Open Campus, Anichess, GAMEE and TinyTap. How widely the house spreads beyond them shows in its own 2026 newsflow: a collaboration with Franklin Templeton on tokenised assets, a masternode validator on the XDC network, a majority takeover of GAMEE by Alpha Compute and a programme of up to $10 million for developers on the AI agent platform Minds. To place the breadth of this field, the four large Web3 gaming houses and their shutdowns are set out in our overview of Yuga, Animoca, Pudgy and Sky Mavis.

The reverse merger with Currenc Group: what the deal provided for

On November 3, 2025 Animoca announced its route to the Nasdaq through a reverse merger. In a reverse merger an already listed company buys an unlisted one, whose owners then hold the majority of the combined house. The listing is thus taken over rather than applied for afresh, and that is exactly what makes the route faster and cheaper than a conventional initial public offering.

The buyer on paper was Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group. On the figures given at the time, Animoca's shareholders would have held around 95 percent of the combined company. The third quarter of 2026 was the target date for completion. In May 2026 both sides extended the exclusivity period, that is, the window in which no negotiations with third parties are permitted. Valuations for the plan cited in press coverage ranged from around $1 billion up to $2.4 billion, and neither side ever confirmed any of them.

The merger has been on ice since September 22

In its announcement of September 22, 2026 Animoca speaks of a mutual suspension of the talks. Both sides give as the reason that the estimated time to completion does not fit their respective short- and medium-term strategic objectives. Co-founder and executive chairman Yat Siu is quoted as saying: “While we hold our proposed merger with Currenc Group in high regard, our corporate agility must take precedence.”

Two formulations from the same announcement matter more for context than the cancellation itself. The talks could be resumed if and when circumstances permit, a back door without a deadline. And Animoca says it remains fully committed to the goal of being listed again on a major public exchange. The word “again” is no accident, and there is more on that below.

Why the audited accounts are the real bottleneck

The same announcement contains the sentence that describes the position best: Animoca filed its audited annual accounts for 2023 only on July 17, 2026 and is working on those for 2024. A company still finishing its 2024 accounts in October 2026 simply cannot list on a major exchange, no matter how attractive its portfolio book looks.

The mechanism behind that is straightforward and applies at every regulated venue. An admission to listing requires audited figures from an issuer for several past financial years, prepared to a recognised standard and confirmed by an auditor. For a house with 620 holdings that is particularly laborious: every stake needs a traceable valuation, every token reserve an allocation, and for many of these items there is no liquid market from which a price could simply be read off. Animoca itself expressly marks the figures in its interim update as unaudited and not prepared under IFRS.

One plain consequence follows from that sequence for anyone speculating on a listing: as long as the 2024 accounts are outstanding, any date for a listing is a statement of intent, not an appointment. A merger partner can be found in weeks; a multi-year audit opinion cannot.

The return to a major exchange is a relisting

Animoca has been listed before. On March 9, 2020 the Australian exchange ASX removed the company from its official list under Listing Rule 17.12. In its letter of December 18, 2019 the exchange had raised several points of corporate governance, along with the involvement in cryptocurrency activities and the extensive use of SAFEs, that is, convertible funding agreements issued by subsidiaries. Animoca replied on February 28, 2020 with a 39-page submission and was removed all the same.

That history explains today's choice of words. Speaking of a relisting means having behind you an exchange that once did not want you, and having to deliver more than a good story at the next attempt. The 2020 removal also explains why the company sought the route through an existing listing rather than through a regular admission procedure.

Bookings of $173 million: the 2025 financial year figures

The interim update for the 2025 financial year reports bookings of $173 million for the twelve months to December 31, 2025. Bookings is not an accounting revenue measure but a self-defined metric for the group's total sales and earnings activity. Operating costs stood at $175 million, $65 million below the previous year, with non-cash items such as share-based compensation stripped out.

The comparison over time is the most interesting part of these figures, and it appears in no press release. For 2023 the company reported bookings of $280 million, for 2024 the figure was $314 million. From 2024 to 2025 bookings therefore fell by around 45 percent. Costs came down by $65 million over the same period, and for 2026 management says it will continue and accelerate that course. These are the accounts of a house that is shrinking and cutting faster than it loses business, not those of a growing technology group. That costs and bookings were practically level in 2025 also shows how narrow the margin has become.

The Sandbox after the restructuring: from 240 to 92 roles

Nowhere is that restructuring clearer than at the best-known product. The Sandbox, the virtual world with the SAND token, had 240 roles according to the interim update and now stands at 92. Operating costs in the division fell by more than 75 percent against the previous year. The company describes the seventh Alpha Season as the last operational outing on the existing architecture before a rebuild with AI integration follows.

For holders of the token that cuts both ways. A product going from 240 to 92 roles delivers less content, and the existing technical base is being retired before its successor is in place. If you hold SAND, the price history and the figures behind it are in our SAND price prediction. That the wider field is faring no better shows in the marketplace count: several of the large NFT trading venues have closed within a year, as set out in our review of the NFT marketplaces in 2026, and with the shutdown of Blur on November 12 the next one goes.

Moca Chain since September 29: a layer-1 blockchain for digital identity

On September 29, 2026 the Moca Foundation and Moca Network launched the Moca Chain mainnet, which had been announced back in June 2025 with a target in the fourth quarter of 2025. Moca Chain is a standalone layer-1 blockchain with the EVM identifier 2288 and can be operated with the usual Ethereum tooling. Its purpose is digital identity: institutions issue credentials, such as a completed identity check or a membership, and users carry those credentials into other applications.

What is a verifiable credential?

A verifiable credential is a digitally signed attestation about an attribute of a person whose authenticity any third party can recompute without asking the issuer. Moca Chain combines that with zero-knowledge proofs. A zero-knowledge proof establishes that a statement is true without disclosing the data it rests on: you can prove that you are of age without showing your date of birth.

In this design the MOCA token is intended for staking and for fees that arise when credentials are issued, stored and verified, and in identity oracles. For the AIR product layer, which ties together identity, payment and loyalty programmes, the project names partners including SK Planet, Open Campus, OneFootball, Automobili Lamborghini and Nansen. On uptake there are two figures from two points in time: in its interim update Animoca reported more than 2.6 million MocaID users as at December 31, 2025, while at the mainnet launch the talk was of more than 3.3 million accounts connected through AIR. The 700 million reachable users also cited, by contrast, are an estimate across the entire portfolio, not a count of accounts on this blockchain.

What remains open is the question that decides the economic value: whether regulated companies may rely on a credential issued by another company in order to meet their own customer due diligence duties. The launch announcement does not answer that, and without such recognition the benefit stays confined to voluntary applications.

MOCA in the portfolio: 98 percent below the December 2024 record

MOCA is trading in mid-October 2026 at about $0.0085, or roughly €0.0076. Market capitalisation is around $36 million; data services quoted values between $32 million and $37 million for July and September, so the token has been moving in that order of magnitude for months. Circulating supply is around 4.23 billion tokens according to CoinGecko against a maximum supply of 8.89 billion, while other services put circulation at 3.6 billion to 4.0 billion. From the record price of $0.4774, set on December 25, 2024, it is around 98 percent short.

These figures matter more for context than they first sound. Animoca valued its own MOCA reserve at $131 million as at December 31, 2025. The token's entire market capitalisation today is a fraction of that. A reserve amounting to a multiple of the whole market value cannot be sold at that price, and that holds for any token holding that is large relative to its market. Buying MOCA therefore means buying a very small instrument with a large reserve in the background, and at this size a total loss is possible.

The name clash matters too: a token called Museum of Crypto Art also runs under the MOCA ticker, on Polygon, with a market capitalisation in the six figures. What counts when buying is the contract address, not the ticker.

MiCA and the ESMA register: how to check your exchange's licence yourself

For investors in Germany the trading question is the one that matters most in practice. CoinGecko lists around 33 trading pairs for MOCA. The largest of them sit at exchanges outside the European Union, among them Bybit, KuCoin, Bitget and Gate, alongside decentralised venues such as Uniswap on Ethereum and Aerodrome on Base. MOCA is not available at a German bank or a German broker.

A hard legal framework has applied since the start of the year. Under section 50 of the German Crypto Markets Supervision Act, the German transition period for crypto service providers ended with the close of December 31, 2025; across the EU the transition ran out on July 1, 2026 at the latest. Anyone offering crypto asset services to customers in Germany has since needed authorisation as a crypto asset service provider under MiCA, a CASP. Which providers hold that authorisation is recorded in the register of the European securities regulator ESMA, with German institutions additionally in BaFin's company database. Both registers are public, and a look inside takes two minutes. A selection of houses with EU authorisation is in our comparison of regulated crypto exchanges.

Going through a decentralised venue removes the provider question but puts custody on you: lose access to your wallet and you lose the tokens, and there is no body that retrieves them. For tax, the one-year holding period under section 23 of the German Income Tax Act continues to apply to private sales. The cabinet date for the announced abolition passed in mid-October without a decision, so the December 31 cut-off stays as it is for now; the state of play is in our report on the cabinet date that passed.

Our assessment: the portfolio book holds, the listing story wobbles

From this newsroom's point of view the cancelled merger is the smaller story. The portfolio book stands at $411 million of fair value, $68 million in cash and stablecoins and $177 million in digital assets; Animoca can work off that substance for a long time, and costs cut by $65 million extend that room. Against it stand three documented points: bookings down from $314 million to $173 million in a year, a flagship product down from 240 to 92 roles, and 2024 accounts that are still unaudited in October 2026. As long as those are missing, a listing is an intention, not an appointment.

The most solid part of the story is therefore not the exchange but Moca Chain: a product that has been running since September 29, with named partners and a clear task. What will decide it is whether regulated companies recognise the credentials issued there. This assessment judges the situation and is not a recommendation to buy or sell; with a token at $36 million of market value, a total loss is possible.

Animoca Brands: without audited accounts the listing stays open

1. Separate the company from the token. As a retail investor you cannot currently take a stake in Animoca Brands, and the MOCA token is something other than a share in the holding company. If you want to buy it, find a venue with EU authorisation and compare the costs beforehand in our exchange comparison.
2. Look at the surroundings, not just the name. The Sandbox is rebuilding, and the NFT market is losing venues. Which marketplaces are still open and what they cost is in our marketplace comparison.
3. Document every purchase from the start. For the one-year holding period you need the purchase date, quantity and price for each acquisition. Tools that record this automatically are in our comparison of tax tools.

(As of October 15, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)