Animoca Asset Management secures ADGM fund permission
Animoca Asset Management’s ADGM fund permission is already on the FSRA register, dated October 13, and it bars retail clients and client-asset custody.
Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited was already an active firm on the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) public register when Animoca Brands published the news. The parent said on November 2, 2026 that the subsidiary had received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) to carry out Managing a Collective Investment Fund in or from Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). The register dates permission 250097 to October 13, 2026, so the announcement landed 20 days after the effective date, and the permission is a fund-management ticket rather than a retail digital-asset licence.
The register record
The company announcement says the permission lets Animoca Brands carry out that activity, while the FSRA record names the holder as Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited. The specified investment on the register is units in a collective investment fund, the legal form is an ADGM private company limited by shares, and the status is Active. The address on the record is Office 9, Ground Floor, Pixel Plaza – Tower 6, The Makers District, Al Reem Island, Abu Dhabi. The announcement ties the permission to institutional-grade blockchain infrastructure, a link between traditional financial institutions and decentralised networks, tokenised assets, and agentic artificial intelligence in Web3 environments aimed at digital property rights.
In accordance with section 30(4)(a) of the Financial Services and Markets Regulations (FSMR), the register attaches two stipulations to the firm’s regulated activities. Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited is not permitted to deal with Retail Clients, as defined in the Conduct of Business Rulebook (COBS). The firm is not permitted to hold or control Client Assets. A search of the FSRA public register returned no fund under the Animoca name.
Minh Do, senior executive officer and director of Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited, said: “Securing the Financial Services Permission from ADGM’s FSRA is a critical milestone for our operations in the Middle East. It allows us to manage collective investment funds under a robust regulatory framework, bridging institutional capital with the future of the agentic web and digital assets.”
Arvind Ramamurthy, chief market development officer at ADGM, said: “We welcome Animoca Brands to ADGM. Its expansion into fund management strengthens the connections between institutional capital and digital assets within our ecosystem.”
The permission closes a process Animoca Brands opened on November 24, 2025, when it said the FSRA had given in-principle approval to operate as a regulated fund manager, subject to conditions and final regulatory approval, for the same collective-investment activity. That in-principle announcement also said the group was expanding in the Middle East and already had a presence in Dubai to support Web3 activity. The distance between a conditional approval and a numbered permission is the distinction an earlier report on 3iQ’s Abu Dhabi filing drew for a separate manager. The November 2 announcement describes a portfolio of over 600 companies and digital assets.
Around that file, ADGM’s own count of the market is already large. On September 8, 2026 the centre said fund and asset managers had reached 190 in the first half of 2026, up 23% from 154 a year earlier, and that funds managed from ADGM had reached 276, up 32% from 209 a year earlier. The FSRA granted 45 new Financial Services Permissions in the first half of 2026. Animoca Asset Management’s October 13 permission falls after that cut-off, so it sits with the second-half additions rather than inside those 45. The same half-year account treats Al Maryah Island and Al Reem Island as one jurisdiction, which places the firm’s Al Reem address inside the centre whose main district sits on Al Maryah Island.
Coinbase’s ADGM tokenisation permission stops short of a trading venue, and the Animoca Asset Management permission leaves client-asset control with a separate firm that is allowed to hold them. Standard Chartered’s definitive agreement for Zodia Custody shows client-asset control being bought as its own business. Aviva’s tokenised share class on a sterling liquidity fund shows a different institutional route, a tokenised sleeve inside a fund that already exists, set against Animoca Brands’ decision to stand up an ADGM manager and then wait for a fund to appear on the register.
A fund entry on the FSRA funds register, a custodian permitted to hold client assets, and an investor base inside the retail-client stipulation are the three public steps that would turn the permission into a product. Until those appointments are on the record, the tokenised-asset mandate Animoca Brands described is regulatory capacity, and the 20-day gap shows the market learned of a permission that was already effective.
This article is informational analysis only and is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and can lose substantial value rapidly. Past performance and historical patterns do not guarantee future results. Do your own research and consult a regulated financial adviser before making any investment decision.
Reporting by Karthik Subramanian. Filed 5 November 2026, 11:54 GMT.
Digital Assets Correspondent
Karthik Subramanian is a founder, writer, and technology consultant with nine years in the crypto ecosystem.
