Founded in 2014 by Yat Siu and David Kim, Animoca Brands is a major Web3 player in gamification, Metaverse and NFTs, having invested in over 540 companies, and has now made the leap into the cryptocurrency intermediary industry with an in-principle license approval from the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) in Dubai.
On the VARA website, Animoca Brands under the name Animoca Brands Middle East Advisory FZCO has received in-principle approval for a virtual currency broker-dealer VASP service license.
Animoca Brands enters UAE to invest in Web3 project
Animoca Brands, which has a large investment portfolio in Web3 projects including well-known projects such as The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, Pudgy Penguins, TrendX, 0G Labs, as well as projects such as Kite AI and Aethir, expanded to the UAE in 2025, opening an office in Dubai and appointing Omar Elasar as Managing Director.
At the time, Animoca Brands said the office would serve as a hub to engage with local and international partners to meet the growing demands of Web3 companies expanding into the region and foster innovation.
Back in 2024, Animoca Brands had already led a $7 million strategic funding round in Param Labs, a Web3 blockchain gaming studio based in the UAE.
We also aimed to build strong relationships in Saudi Arabia’s blockchain and Web3 ecosystem. The company has partnered with the NEOM Investment Fund to commit $50 million to developing Web3 infrastructure in the region.
It may seem surprising that Animoca Brands, a prominent investor in Web3 entities, would be entering crypto trading, but it’s not so far-fetched considering the market capitalization of tokens issued by Animoca Brands’ portfolio companies is over $45 billion.
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