Animoca Brands Clears Final Hurdle With Abu Dhabi Fund Management Approval

Animoca Brands said Monday it had received approval to manage investment funds for non-retail clients in Abu Dhabi, completing a regulatory step that expands the company’s asset management operations beyond its earlier focus on mobile games. According to Cointelegraph, the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market granted the authorization to Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands. The license permits the subsidiary to oversee funds that pool capital from professional investors, rather than offering them to the general public. The approval announced Monday took effect on Oct. 13 and completes a process that began with in-principle approval in November 2025. During the intervening months, Animoca also secured a Dubai license in February to provide virtual asset brokerage and investment management services to institutional and qualified investors. The Abu Dhabi authorization adds to the company’s regulated financial services activity in the region. Animoca Brands was spun off from mobile game developer Animoca in 2014. It initially developed and published games based on licensed brands, as well as original titles, before shifting its focus toward blockchain in 2018. The company built an investment portfolio that included OpenSea, Dapper Labs and Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity. In a September investor update, Animoca described a broader transition from a digital asset and Web3 operator into a regulated financial services institution operating across multiple jurisdictions. The company said digital assets are taking on a more institutional role in its business as it pursues that strategy. Its stated areas of focus include stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization and treasury management. The shift comes amid a broader move by crypto-native companies into traditional financial services.