Animoca Brands and Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group Have Jointly Suspended Negotiations for Proposed Reverse Merger
Animoca Brands and Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group have jointly suspended negotiations regarding a proposed reverse merger, which was originally planned to allow Animoca to go public via a shell company, Currenc.
The merger plan was initially announced in November 2025, with both parties intending to complete Animoca's listing through a reverse merger with the already Nasdaq-listed Currenc. Now, this negotiation has been jointly suspended by both parties.
Animoca stated that the company remains committed to relisting on mainstream exchanges, and the suspension of this merger negotiation does not indicate a abandonment of its listing plans, but rather a pause in cooperation with Currenc on this specific path.
Animoca's chairman, Yat Siu, further pointed out that "corporate flexibility" is currently prioritized over this merger matter, suggesting that the company may be weighing other listing or financing paths aside from the reverse merger.
Reverse mergers (shell listings) have become a common path for crypto and web3 companies to bypass traditional IPO review processes and quickly enter the public market. Animoca has previously expressed its desire to relist on the public market multiple times, and this suspension is a phase adjustment in its listing path planning rather than a termination.
From a market perspective, this suspension directly impacts Currenc Group by losing the opportunity to acquire Animoca's assets and business through the merger in the short term. As the shell company, Currenc could have potentially enhanced its market value and visibility through this transaction. For Animoca, the suspension of negotiations means uncertainty in its listing timeline, but it also retains the space to seek other more favorable listing paths. This suspension represents a typical event-driven capital operation adjustment, with both parties currently in a wait-and-see and reassessment phase, without clear changes in capital flow.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Animoca Brands has long focused on gaming, NFTs, and web3 infrastructure investments, and has publicly expressed its desire to list on mainstream exchanges in Hong Kong or the U.S. multiple times over the past few years. It has previously attempted to advance its listing plans through traditional IPO routes, but these have been postponed multiple times due to market conditions and regulatory approval processes. The reverse merger with Currenc Group was one of its recent concrete actions to accelerate the listing process.
The logic behind the funding and resource mobilization of reverse mergers is that Animoca does not need to undergo the lengthy approval and roadshow processes of a traditional IPO. Instead, by merging with the already listed Currenc Group, it can directly obtain public market listing status, compressing the years-long listing process into the time window of merger negotiations and regulatory approvals. The suspension of negotiations means that the "shortcut" Animoca was attempting to leverage is temporarily blocked, and the direction of resource mobilization needs to be reassessed.
This path of "companies unable to complete IPO approvals turning to reverse mergers for shell listings" is not uncommon in the crypto industry. Previously, several web3 and blockchain-related companies have also attempted to enter the public market by merging with listed shell companies to avoid the strict scrutiny of traditional IPOs regarding compliance and revenue certainty for crypto businesses. The stage Animoca is currently in is a typical case of a crypto-native company in the cycle of "traditional IPO obstacles—reverse merger—not yet successful—reassessing paths."
This event essentially represents a temporary adjustment of capital paths rather than a structural change—Animoca has not abandoned its goal of entering the public market but is rebalancing between "corporate flexibility" and "locking in a single merger path." This situation arises because reverse mergers involve multiple variables such as equity structure, valuation, and regulatory approvals. If either party encounters new strategic considerations or changes in the external environment during the process, negotiations can easily be paused to retain the space for reselecting paths. This reflects a common structural logic in capital operations where "retaining options takes precedence over locking in a single solution."
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
There are shortcuts to listing, but shortcuts can also get congested.
Flexibility itself is a bargaining chip.
Suspension is not abandonment; it keeps the options in your hands.