Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, will become the company’s chief executive on 1 December 2026 and will remain executive chairman. Animoca is the firm behind The Sandbox (official site). Evan Auyang, group president since joining in 2021, becomes senior advisor to the board.
Siu will run day-to-day operations while Animoca rebuilds its business around AI agents and institutional finance. Gamers mostly know Animoca for its investments and for owning businesses such as The Sandbox SAND $0.04254 ▼ -5.4%, so the new focus is a real change in direction.
What changes at Animoca
Siu set out the plan in a shareholder letter released alongside the announcement. He expects billions of autonomous agents to exist, and he wants Animoca to provide the products and infrastructure they run on. Three businesses are combined under the strategy, which aims to link agents that can act with the financial infrastructure and verifiable authority they need to make transactions.
Siu’s case is that agents could solve a problem blockchain has had for years: it is hard to use. Users would state what they want and software would handle the wallets, gas fees and bridges for them. Players who gave up on a blockchain game at the wallet setup screen are the audience for this part of the plan.
Robby Yung remains on the senior executive team as CEO of investments and CEO of The Sandbox. The other members are:
- Shaun Kraft, chief financial officer
- Minh Do, chief operating officer
- Brian Chan, chief development officer
- Jamii Quoc, general counsel
The relisting timetable
Siu’s letter also addresses Animoca’s planned return to public markets, which has been a long time coming. He confirms that audited financial statements for 2022 and 2023 were completed during 2026. The company aims to work through its remaining backlog of historical reports during 2027 so it can support a future relisting.
The 2027 target covers the preparation only. Animoca has not committed to listing that year, no listing date has been set, and the work could stretch well into next year.
Animoca’s earlier plan had a firmer date. A proposed reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group was meant to close in the third quarter of 2026. In September the two companies suspended talks, pointing to projected closing timelines and shifting market conditions.
What it means for games
More than 600 companies sit in Animoca’s portfolio, which gives it connections and potential distribution. Converting that reach into steady revenue and financial reports delivered on time is work that is not finished yet, and Siu now answers for it directly as CEO. He lists operational efficiency, disciplined capital allocation and shareholder value as his priorities, along with product development.
The Sandbox and other games remain part of the Animoca ecosystem. The company’s main message has moved to ownership and finance on an internet run by agents. It has not yet shown that this broader plan will produce a more focused business that turns a profit.