Animoca Brands wins ADGM approval to run funds from Abu Dhabi
What's the deal? Animoca Brands has secured a Financial Services Permission from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), authorising its subsidiary Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited to manage collective investment funds in or from the zone. The permission, numbered 250097, took effect on October 13, 2026.
What does Animoca do? The company began as a mobile games developer, shifted to blockchain gaming in 2018, and built a venture portfolio of over 600 companies including OpenSeaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Dapper Labs, and Axie Infinity developer Sky Mavis. It now describes itself as a global digital assets firm moving into regulated financial services.
The regulatory path: The permission completes a process that began with the FSRA's in-principle approval in November 2025, which carried conditions Animoca had to meet before running funds. The licence covers investment management for non-retail clients; a separate regulated custodian would hold the assets.
Why now? Abu Dhabi is Animoca's second UAE footprint, after a Dubai virtual asset licence in February for broker-dealer and investment services to institutional and qualified investors. The move also lands as its US listing plans stall — a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group was suspended on September 22, citing timeline and market conditions.
What's the endgame? Animoca is targeting institutional demand for stablecoins and tokenised assets. "It allows us to manage collective investment funds under a robust regulatory framework, bridging institutional capital with the future of the agentic web and digital assets," said Minh Do, senior executive officer and director of the unit.
What could go wrong? The significance is limited for now. Animoca has not named a fund, strategy, size, investor base, or launch date, and the permission does not extend to custody or retail services.
The signal: The licence tracks a wider ADGM asset-management push. In the first half of 2026, the number of fund and asset managers there rose 23% year over year to 190, while funds managed from the centre grew 32% to 276 — with Animoca now among the crypto-native firms moving into traditional finance.
Read more: animocabrands.com
Image credit: Animoca Brands
