Animoca Brands’ planned route back to public markets has been put on hold after the Web3 investment company and Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group agreed to suspend talks on a proposed reverse merger first announced in November 2025.
The companies said they reached the decision mutually after reassessing the projected timetable for completing the transaction and current market conditions. The time required to close the deal no longer aligned with either company’s short- and medium-term priorities, according to their announcement.
The suspension removes a near-term path for Animoca to become publicly traded in the United States through Currenc, a Singapore-based fintech company focused on artificial intelligence and tokenization products. The parties said they may return to merger discussions if conditions permit, but gave no date for a possible restart.
Proposed deal would have left animoca holders with 95%
Under the non-binding term sheet disclosed last year, Currenc would have acquired Animoca Brands through an Australian scheme of arrangement, a court-supervised corporate transaction process commonly used in Australia for takeovers and reorganizations.
Animoca shareholders were expected to hold 95% of the combined company after the transaction, leaving Currenc’s existing shareholders with the remaining 5%. That structure would have effectively made the Nasdaq-listed vehicle a public-market home for Animoca’s existing business, portfolio holdings and digital-asset strategy.
A reverse-merger structure can offer a faster alternative to a conventional initial public offering, though it still requires extensive financial reporting, regulatory work and shareholder approvals. The companies’ decision indicates that the expected timetable had become too long to justify continuing under the existing terms.
The negotiations had already faced a deadline adjustment. In May, the exclusivity period for the proposed transaction was extended to June 30, giving the companies more time to advance discussions. The eventual suspension suggests that extending the negotiating window did not resolve the practical hurdles around reaching a closing schedule.
Public-market ambitions meet reporting backlog
Animoca has been seeking a return to public markets after its earlier listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. The company was delisted from the ASX in 2020 following scrutiny related to its cryptocurrency-focused activities.
Its corporate reporting record has remained part of the backdrop to any renewed public listing effort. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission convicted and fined Animoca in 2022 for failing to lodge annual financial reports for 2019 through 2021, as well as certain half-year reports.
Animoca has since been working through a backlog of audited financial statements. In July 2026, it published its audited fiscal 2023 report and said it was preparing audited financial statements for fiscal 2024.
That work remains relevant even without the Currenc deal. Any future listing route, whether through a merger, direct listing, IPO or another structure, would require current audited accounts and a clearer public-company reporting timetable. The suspended merger does not end Animoca’s stated public-market ambitions, but it removes a transaction that was designed to accelerate them.
Currenc pursues tokenized-share strategy
Currenc, meanwhile, has continued building around tokenization and AI-linked financial technology. Earlier this month, the company announced an agreement with Mint intended to bring Mint’s Nasdaq-listed shares onchain.
Tokenized shares are blockchain-based representations designed to track or provide exposure to conventional securities. Their legal and economic rights can vary widely depending on the structure, custody model and jurisdiction, making the details of each arrangement crucial.
The Mint agreement places Currenc within a growing area of financial-market experimentation around blockchain settlement, digital ownership records and programmable financial assets. It also means Currenc can continue pursuing its own product and corporate strategy without waiting for a complex acquisition of a much larger Web3-focused company.
For Animoca, the pause preserves flexibility but leaves its public-market timetable uncertain. The company operates across blockchain gaming, digital property, token ecosystems and a large portfolio of technology ventures, so its financial profile differs sharply from a single-product crypto company. Integrating that range of assets, operations and reporting obligations into a Nasdaq-listed vehicle was likely to require a more demanding process than the original proposal suggested.
Neither company disclosed revised transaction terms, a new deadline or a formal termination of the underlying strategic relationship. Their language leaves room for renewed negotiations, but any revival would likely require market conditions and closing expectations that both sides view as materially more workable than those available now.
Curious how tokenized assets reshape listings? Explore tokenized equities and what they mean for future public markets.
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