The so-called crypto winter has wiped out $2 trillion in digital currency market value since November, and many investors have gone into hibernation. Yat Siu, the head of Hong Kong-based Animoca Brands Corp., is on the offensive.
Animoca, Asia’s biggest investor in blockchain projects, is assembling a vast portfolio of finance, gaming, and social media companies, more than 340 in all. The goal, says Siu, is to give people ownership over their virtual properties and break up the empires of Meta Platforms Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which he describes as “digital dictatorships.”
Siu’s strategy was informed by the digital currency crash of 2018, when he turned his small video game studio into a crypto investor. The startup purchased a stake in the maker of CryptoKitties, a Pokémon-like game with virtual cats that can be bought and sold with digital money, and kept buying. Just four years later, Animoca is one of the crypto industry’s most influential investors, with backing from Sequoia Capital and George Soros.
“If people say this is a crypto winter, then 2018 was the crypto ice age,” Siu says. “Now is the time to deploy more capital, not less.”
If successful, Siu could become a gatekeeper of a different sort. An investment from Animoca, like one from the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz or Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX in the US, is seen as an imprimatur of legitimacy for a crypto startup in Asia, and its absence a sign of concern. Now that Animoca is one of the few organizations left investing, Siu’s checkbook is an even more powerful weapon—and one that could severely backfire if this downturn doesn’t play out like 2018’s.
この記事は Bloomberg Businessweek US の August 22, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Bloomberg Businessweek US の August 22, 2022 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Instagram's Founders Say It's Time for a New Social App
The rise of AI and the fall of Twitter could create opportunities for upstarts
Running in Circles
A subscription running shoe program aims to fight footwear waste
What I Learned Working at a Hawaiien Mega-Resort
Nine wild secrets from the staff at Turtle Bay, who have to manage everyone from haughty honeymooners to go-go-dancing golfers.
How Noma Will Blossom In Kyoto
The best restaurant in the world just began its second pop-up in Japan. Here's what's cooking
The Last-Mover Problem
A startup called Sennder is trying to bring an extremely tech-resistant industry into the age of apps
Tick Tock, TikTok
The US thinks the Chinese-owned social media app is a major national security risk. TikTok is running out of ways to avoid a ban
Cleaner Clothing Dye, Made From Bacteria
A UK company produces colors with less water than conventional methods and no toxic chemicals
Pumping Heat in Hamburg
The German port city plans to store hot water underground and bring it up to heat homes in the winter
Sustainability: Calamari's Climate Edge
Squid's ability to flourish in warmer waters makes it fitting for a diet for the changing environment
New Money, New Problems
In Naples, an influx of wealthy is displacing out-of-towners lower-income workers