Animoca Brands chairman Yat Siu recently stated in an interview that the firm is planning for a potential IPO in Hong Kong or the Middle East, which could happen in late 2025 or early 2026.
In a recent interview with The Block at the Foresight 2024 event in Hong Kong, Siu said that the company is looking into potential options for an initial public offering. This decision comes after the firm was delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange.
Siu stated that 2026 seems more likely for the IPO. The recent downward trend of the NFT industry has brought down the firm’s valuation from $5.9 billion in 2022 to $1.5 billion currently.
Animoca Brands disclosed its financial position in April 2024. According to the announcement, the firm remained sturdy with a stablecoin and a cash balance of $291 million. Siu even told The Block that the company has invested in more than 540 web3 companies so far.
Animoca chairman says NFTs are fighting for attention
During the interview, Siu touched on the current stance of the NFT sector. The NFT sector was booming during the 2021 and 2022 periods. However, data from Cryptoslam shows that the NFT sales volume was around $86 million in the last seven days.
This is considerably lower in comparison to the peak volume in August 2021, which was around $3.24 billion. Siu said, “Right now, NFTs are fighting for attention with meme coins.”
Siu stated that meme coins are currently playing the role of expressing one’s culture, be it for influencers, users or even celebrities.
“Three years ago, I don’t know how many thousands of NFT projects launched every day, and now that’s seen in meme coins,” Siu said while speaking about the current meme coin hype.
US election could change crypto landscape
While talking about the current political competition in the US, Siu stated that the US presidential election can help in determining the developments that could happen in the crypto industry.
The Animoca Chairman highlighted that if Trump wins, it will be guns blazing. On the other hand, if Harris wins, Siu expects a more cautious approach. He also expects renewed optimism to come back in the US, which went quite a while after the FTX collapse.
Even though former President Donald Trump expressed his political and crypto stance, it is unclear at the moment as to who will emerge victorious in the upcoming election.