The Block Research Podcast

Animoca Brands, the Hong-Kong based digital entertainment startup behind the popular blockchain metaverse platform The Sandbox, raised $358.88 million in January at a valuation of over $5 billion in a funding round led by Liberty City Ventures.

In this episode of The Scoop, CEO of Animoca Brands Robby Yung discusses his company’s growth and shares his philosophy on what it means to build an ‘open’ metaverse platform.

As Yung explained during the interview:

"Our job is very much more like a government from an economics standpoint because we levy what’s akin to a tax on the ecosystem for providing the ecosystem… Our focus is on encouraging economic activity, it doesn’t have to be us selling things to customers, it can be customers selling amongst themselves."

Whereas web2 game designers rely on a "storefront model" in which users purchase content directly, web3 metaverse projects such as The Sandbox reap revenue from users’ transaction fees generated from in-game interactions.

As Yung commented:

"...In an open metaverse we’re providing a public service, but at the same time we need to be mindful that we need to make a profit for our shareholders. You need to balance those two things and not put one at the expense of the other."

The Sandbox is an "open" virtual world meaning it provides the basic infrastructure for users to build their own customized experiences. This is something that is central to Yung’s vision for how an open metaverse should operate:

"I’m actually most excited about the stuff that I can’t imagine happening with my products, because other people are going to innovate those things."

Besides The Sandbox, Animoca Brands has over 150 investments in other NFT and metaverse projects. The studio recently announced its acquisition of racing game developer Eden Games.

Episode 29 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Robby Yung CEO at Animoca Brands.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to podcast@theblockcrypto.com. 

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors Fireblocks, Coinbase Prime & Cross River

Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

About Coinbase Prime

Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime.

About Cross River

Cross River is powering today’s most innovative crypto companies, with banking and payments solutions you can rely on, including fiat on/off ramp solutions. Whether you are a crypto exchange, NFT marketplace, or wallet, Cross River’s API-based, all-in-one platform enables banking as a service, ACH & wire transfers, push-to-card disbursements, real-time payments, and virtual accounts and subledgers. Request your fiat on/off ramp solution now at crossriver.com/crypto.