Key Takeaways
- • Animoca Brands won final approval from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to manage collective investment funds, granting a Financial Services Permission to its subsidiary Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited.
- • The approval came about 11 months after in-principle, conditional approval from the FSRA in November 2025, per FinanceMagnates.com's calculation, versus roughly 14 months for eToro's comparable ADGM process.
- • The permission is Animoca's second regulated UAE foothold in 2026, following a February license from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for broker-dealer and management services in virtual assets.
- • ADGM's fund and asset manager count rose 23% year on year to 190 by end-June 2026, with the FSRA granting 45 permissions of all types in the first half of the year.
- • Animoca has not disclosed a fund name or size for its Abu Dhabi vehicle.
Summary
Animoca Brands won final approval to manage investment funds in Abu Dhabi, the crypto investor said on Monday, November 2, 2026. The FSRA of ADGM granted a Financial Services Permission to its subsidiary Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited, allowing the unit to manage a collective investment fund in or from ADGM. Minh Do, senior executive officer and director of the asset management unit, called the permission a milestone for Animoca's Middle East operations, saying it "allows us to manage collective investment funds under a robust regulatory framework."
The approval followed in-principle approval from the FSRA in November 2025, which was conditional; the company could not operate funds until it met the regulator's requirements. According to FinanceMagnates.com's calculation based on announcement dates, the process took Animoca about 11 months, compared with about 14 months for eToro, which moved from in-principle approval in September 2022 to a full license in November 2023.
The move adds to Animoca's UAE footprint. In February 2026, the company announced a VARA license for broker-dealer and management services in virtual assets, offered to institutional and qualified investors. Kraken's parent Payward, which followed a similar two-stage VARA process, received final market approval in October, five months after preliminary authorization in May.
ADGM's regulated population is growing. The number of fund and asset managers rose 23% from a year earlier to 190 by end-June 2026, and the FSRA granted 45 permissions of all types in the first half of the year. FM Intelligence's license monitor counts 423 active licenses under the ADGM regulator, compared with 4,176 at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, so Abu Dhabi remains the smaller of the two UAE financial free zones by license count. Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer at ADGM, said Animoca's move into fund management "strengthens the connections between institutional capital and digital assets" in the free zone. Nomura's digital asset unit Laser Digital previously secured a broker-dealer and asset management permission in ADGM in 2024.
Animoca, which built The Sandbox and the Moca Network, says it holds stakes in more than 600 companies and digital assets. The company did not disclose a fund name or size for its Abu Dhabi activities.
The approval followed in-principle approval from the FSRA in November 2025, which was conditional; the company could not operate funds until it met the regulator's requirements. According to FinanceMagnates.com's calculation based on announcement dates, the process took Animoca about 11 months, compared with about 14 months for eToro, which moved from in-principle approval in September 2022 to a full license in November 2023.
The move adds to Animoca's UAE footprint. In February 2026, the company announced a VARA license for broker-dealer and management services in virtual assets, offered to institutional and qualified investors. Kraken's parent Payward, which followed a similar two-stage VARA process, received final market approval in October, five months after preliminary authorization in May.
ADGM's regulated population is growing. The number of fund and asset managers rose 23% from a year earlier to 190 by end-June 2026, and the FSRA granted 45 permissions of all types in the first half of the year. FM Intelligence's license monitor counts 423 active licenses under the ADGM regulator, compared with 4,176 at the Dubai Financial Services Authority, so Abu Dhabi remains the smaller of the two UAE financial free zones by license count. Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer at ADGM, said Animoca's move into fund management "strengthens the connections between institutional capital and digital assets" in the free zone. Nomura's digital asset unit Laser Digital previously secured a broker-dealer and asset management permission in ADGM in 2024.
Animoca, which built The Sandbox and the Moca Network, says it holds stakes in more than 600 companies and digital assets. The company did not disclose a fund name or size for its Abu Dhabi activities.
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