Animoca Brands expands into crypto brokerage after Dubai VARA approval

Founded in 2014 by Yat Siu and David Kim, Animoca Brands has been a key Web3 player in gamification, metaverses, and NFTs, investing in over 540 companies, but it is now taking a leap into the crypto brokerage scene after receiving an in-principle license approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). On VARA’s website , Animoca Brands, under the name Animoca Brands Middle East Advisory FZCO, has received an in-principle approval for a crypto broker-dealer VASP service ￰0￱ Brands enters the UAE to invest in Web3 projects Animoca Brands, which has a large portfolio of investments in Web3 projects — including well-known names like The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, Pudgy Penguins, TrendX, 0G Labs, and projects like Kite AI and Aethir — entered the UAE in 2025, opening an office in Dubai and appointing Omar Elassar as its Managing ￰1￱ the time, Animoca Brands noted that the office would meet the growing demands of Web3 companies moving into the region and serve as a hub to engage with both local and international partners to foster ￰2￱ in 2024, Animoca Brands had already led a strategic funding round in UAE-based Param Labs, a Web3 blockchain gaming studio, for $7 ￰3￱ had also sought to build strong relationships in the Saudi Arabian blockchain and Web3 ￰4￱ partnered with the NEOM Investment Fund, committing to a $50 million investment to develop Web3 infrastructure in the ￰5￱ it might seem surprising that Animoca Brands, a well-known investor in Web3 entities, is now entering into crypto trading, it is not so far-fetched, given that Animoca Brands has a market cap of tokens issued by Animoca’s portfolio companies pegged at more than $45 ￰6￱ smartest crypto minds already read our ￰7￱ in?

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