Animoca Brands is looking at trends in real-world tokenized assets, AI projects, and the gaming sector to invest in and develop, according to Omar Elissar, the company’s managing director for the Middle East and the head of Global Strategic Partnerships.
In an interview with Cointelegraph’s Sam Bourgi at Token2049, Elissar said that stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, the intersection between AI and crypto, alternative use cases such as decentralized science, and Web3 gaming were all niches the company is exploring.
Gaming is “part of our DNA,” the executive said before reflecting on the current state of the Web3 gaming industry:
“It’s gone quiet for some time in terms of less PR, but there’s been building in the background. Recently, there have been a few games that have come out that have been truly fun to play, which I think has been one of the main negative sentiments about Web3 gaming.”
Animoca Brands is one of the foremost crypto-native venture capital firms in the space and can serve as a barometer of hot or emerging market trends for crypto investors.
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Animoca Brands inks stablecoin, blockchain deals
In February 2025, Animoca Brands, Standard Chartered Bank, and Hong Kong Telecommunications (HKT) signed a deal to develop a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin that will be overcollateralized and pegged to the Hong Kong dollar at a 1:1 ratio.
The stablecoin must first be approved by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) before it begins trading. Hong Kong’s financial authorities are currently working on establishing comprehensive stablecoin regulations.
On March 27, Animoca Brands inked a deal with Soneium, a layer-1 blockchain network developed by Japanese tech company Sony, to develop a digital identification system that features pictures of anime characters that can be assigned to an onchain user to signify identity.
Animoca reported that it recorded 12% year-over-year growth during the 2024 fiscal year in “bookings” — a figure that accounts for the sum of all revenue plus revenue that has been booked but not yet received by the company.
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