Key highlights:
- Animoca Brands and Currenc Group have mutually agreed to suspend their proposed reverse merger
- The deal would have given Animoca shareholders a 95% ownership of the merged, Nasdaq-listed company
- Co-founder Yat Siu said “corporate agility” mattered more than rushing to close the deal
Animoca Brands has stopped talks with Currenc Group on a deal that would have taken the company public. The firm said on Tuesday that both firms agreed to pause the merger for now.
The companies reviewed how long the deal would take to complete, along with current market conditions, and found that the timeline no longer aligns with what either company needed in the short and medium term.
Animoca pauses public listing deal
The proposed merger was announced in November 2025, which would see Currency acquire Animoca through a legal process called the Australian scheme of arrangement.
Animoca’s shareholders would have ended up with a 95% share of the combined company once done, which would then trade on Nasdaq.
That plan has been shelved, though not completely ruled out. Animoca said the companies could pick talks back up again under the right conditions.
Yat Siu, Animoca’s co-founder and executive chairman, explained that staying flexible was more important than rushing through the merger.
“As we advance the comprehensive audit processes required to meet the rigorous compliance standards of a major public exchange, we will continue to pursue optimal routes to a public listing,” he said.
The company added it “remains fully committed” to eventually listing on a major public stock exchange.
A long road back to public markets
This is not Animoca’s first time trying to return to a public exchange. The company was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, but was delisted in 2020 after regulators flagged some suspicious activity in its crypto business.
By 2022, Australia’s securities regulator found the company guilty of failing to file the required annual financial reports for 2019 through 2021. The firm was then fined.
Since then, the firm has been working to catch up on its overdue financial audits, which is particularly necessary before it can list on a major exchange again.
In July this year, the company released its audited financial report for fiscal year 2023. Animoca confirmed in the press release that it is also working on auditing its fiscal 2024 financial statements.
What Currenc and Animoca have been building individually
While merger talks were ongoing, the companies were building. Currenc Group is a Singapore-based fintech company that focuses on AI and tokenization. In April, Currenc became one of the first Nasdaq-listed companies to put its shares on blockchain networks.
Additionally, Currenc Capital signed an agreement earlier this month with Mint Incorporation to tokenize part of Mint’s shares on Ethereum and Solana.
Amonica, on the other hand, kept expanding its portfolio, which covers DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and AI. In May, the company launched an investment program of around $10 million to support developers building AI apps on its Minds platform.
Co-founder Yat Siu said at the time that he expects AI agents to be major users of blockchain technology in the future.
The company also launched a real-world asset tokenization marketplace in May. NUVA runs on Ethereum and gives users access to institutional-grade assets.
Source:: Animoca Brands Puts IPO Plans on Hold, Suspends Merger Talks With Currenc Group