Animoca Brands has paused its reverse merger talks with Currenc and postponed its Nasdaq listing plans. In essence, this is a normal hiccup in the process for mid- and small-sized crypto-related companies to connect with mainstream U.S. capital pools. In the short term, it will not directly impact the prices of cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH. It will only slightly adjust market expectations regarding the listing timeline for compliant crypto assets, and it is unlikely to trigger sector-wide valuation fluctuations.

As a Web3 ecosystem giant listed in Hong Kong, Animoca’s business spans multiple areas including chain games, NFT infrastructure, and investments in the metaverse. It originally planned to achieve dual primary listing on Nasdaq by using the U.S.-listed shell company Currenc, so as to connect with U.S. institutional investors, improve the liquidity of its securitized assets, and expand its brand influence in mainstream financial markets. The direct reason for the merger pause has not yet been disclosed. However, given the recent tightening of U.S. regulators’ scrutiny of listing approvals for companies involved in token businesses and the increased requirements for information disclosure related to virtual assets, it is highly likely that compliance due diligence encountered issues that needed to be coordinated, rather than the company giving up on the Nasdaq listing route.

Judging from the impact on the industry, the postponement of Animoca’s listing will not change the long-term trend toward compliance for crypto assets. At present, the U.S. stock market still has demand for listings of high-quality crypto-related companies, although the approval threshold has been raised. For investors holding Animoca ecosystem tokens or securitized products, they should monitor whether the company will later replace its shell company or adjust its listing structure. If a new listing plan can be rolled out within six months, the negative impact on valuation from this incident will be very limited, and may not even affect the normal operation of its existing business.

This conclusion holds on the premise that, going forward, Animoca does not withdraw its listing application and does not encounter any major compliance issues or business deterioration. The counterexample would be if, within the next three months, Animoca fails to announce new progress on the listing, and the cash flow from its core business worsens significantly. In that case, the market may form a pessimistic outlook on the prospects for smaller and mid-sized crypto firms to list on U.S. exchanges, which could lead to an overall downward revaluation of the Web3 concept sector, and even affect the funding schedule of other crypto companies that are awaiting listing.

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