Yat Siu Net Worth, Crypto and NFT Investments

The net worth of Yat Siu is estimated to be around $100 million this year. The executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands made most of his wealth due to his early focus on NFTs. He is famous as one of the major crusaders of the global adoption of a decentralized internet. His efforts toward the growth of web3 earned him an appointment Hong Kong authorities.

Meanwhile, Animoca Brands has been an effective tool for Yat Siu to pursue the development of the web3 space. Through the firm, the angel investor has invested in numerous web3 startups. In 2022, Animoca Brands was valued at $6 billion.

Yat Siu’s Net Worth

Early Life

Yat Siu was born in Vienna, Austria in 1973. His mother is from Taiwan and was born in Lisbon, Portugal. However, his father was born in Hong Kong. Initially, Siu senior was an instrumentalist before he ventured into business. However, Yat Siu studied at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna. While at the University, he learned to play cello, flute, and piano.

Despite his parents’ wish for him to venture into music, Yat Siu chose a different path. He had his job at Atari in Germany. Later on, Siu relocated to Hong Kong and became a director and head of East Coast Operations for Lexicor. In 1996, he founded Cybercity in Hong Kong. The firm focused on providing internet and email services. According to our findings, people usually refer to Cybercity as “Asia’s first free web page and e-mail provider.”

In 1997, Yat Siu joined AT&T Solutions’ System Integration. However, he left the firm around 1998 to establish Outblaze. The firm focuses on the development of innovative web-based multilingual white-label communication and collaboration services.

Although Outblaze was heavily affected by the dotcom bubble, it managed to survive owing to the steady leadership of Siu. Under Yat Siu’s guidance, Outblaze enjoyed the support of over 75 million end-users. In April 2009, Yat Siu sold Outblaze messaging assets to IBM. Later, IBM used the assets to establish its first cloud computing laboratory in Hong Kong.

Animoca Brands

The development of Animoca Brands can be traced back to 2011. Then, Animoca, a mobile games developer, raised funds through a Series A round led by Intel Capital and IDG-Accel. In 2014, Yat Siu and David Kim collaborated to establish Animoca Brands. Initially, Animoca Brands focused on game software and venture capital with its base in Hong Kong. Yat Siu became the executive chairman of the firm. Meanwhile, during the early years of Animoca Brands, it developed various mobile games.

In 2018, the firm took a different dimension and ventured into blockchain gaming and NFTs. Due to that, Yat Siu attained a high level of prominence in the industry. Meanwhile, the firm’s change of business direction was due to the growing attention on blockchain innovations. Siu conceived the idea of integrating the firm’s experience as a mobile game developer into the blockchain arena. Notably, the firm was able to cement its presence in the new industry. It released projects like Crazy Kings, Crazy Defense Heroes worldwide. Also, the firm recorded $2.8 million in revenue in the first three months.

The firm was encouraged by the manner of acceptance of the two projects and consequently launched another in 2018. The project, OliveX exists as a fitness metaverse company commissioned to design mobile games to gamify the fitness industry. However, Animoca Brands spun off from the company in August 2020.

In the same year, Animoca Brands raised $1 million from Sun Hung and $500,000 from a partner identified as Lympo. The firm utilized the funds to further enhance its presence in the blockchain industry. Later in 2018, Animoca Brands announced the completion of a $547,000 placement to institutional and sophisticated investors. The company segregated the funds to support its investment in artificial intelligence accelerator, Zeroth.ai.

Animoca Brands’s Crazy Kings app to hit Chinese Android handsets, web https://t.co/aT3Gse6P8W via @animocabrands #AB1 #animoca @ticbits @CrazyKingsGame

— Yat Siu (@ysiu) October 26, 2018

It is worth establishing that the fast-growing reputation of Animoca Brands and Yat Siu in the blockchain space attracted the attention of various investors. It leveraged the funds from these angel investors to expand its focus and consequently introduced various game-changing initiatives. In 2019, Animoca Brands raised $2.01 million in cash and cryptocurrency for the development of its metaverse platform, The Sandbox. Notable investors like Square Enix, B Cryptos, and True Global Ventures contributed to the strategic investment.

By investing in “The Sandbox”, Yat Siu and Animoca Brands aim to explore the metaverse and virtual reality sphere. The investment focus was a result of the growing interest in virtual and augmented reality. Notably, Animoca Brand focused on equipping The Sandbox with thrilling features to enable players to build and monetize their gaming experience using its native crypto, SAND. In May 2019, Animoca Brands also raised another $2.5 million to strengthen the development of The Sandbox.

The following year, the firm launched the blockchain racing ERC-20 utility token “REVV” on Uniswap. This token enjoyed a good acceptance in the crypto market, and therefore was listed on several prominent crypto exchanges. All these efforts helped foster the reputation of Animoca Brands in the crypto industry. The firm, under the leadership of Yat Siu, continued to push for the global acceptance of blockchain, gamefi, and cryptocurrency.

In an effort to pursue this goal, Animoca Brands raised funds through an investment round. Remarkably, it completed the first tranche of the investment worth $88.8 million in May 2021. Meanwhile, the second tranche which was worth $50 million was closed around July 2021. Later in 2021, Animoca Brands raised another $65 million at a valuation of $2.2 billion from Ubisoft, Sequoia Capital, and some other top investors. Then, the crypto, NFT, gamefi and metaverse spheres were enjoying substantial attention from investors around the globe.

However, The Sandbox, at that period, was enduring tough competition with Decentraland, another prominent metaverse platform. In a bid to help it thrive amid the competition, Animoca Brands injected $93 million into The Sandbox.

Later, Animoca Brands partnered Binance to initiate a $200 million investment program for blockchain games. However, the 2022 bear market forced the firm to reduce its investment effort in the industry. Then, Animoca Brands pulled the plug on its F1 Delta Time game after lamenting about its low patronage. Before the closure, the game once held the record for being the most expensive NFT.

It is with deep regret that we announce that F1® Delta Time will cease operations on 16 March 2022. While we have not been able to renew our license, we will ensure that current owners of F1® Delta Time assets are rewarded for their loyalty and support. https://t.co/fil0O8krOe

— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) March 15, 2022

Despite recording a remarkable growth over the years, Animoca Brands became the subject of unwanted controversy in June 2022. Then, it was charged for refusing to report its annual and half-yearly financial reports to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. However, the setback didn’t deter investors from supporting its initiatives. In the same year, it received $110 million in a funding round led by GGV Capital.

In May 2023, Animoca Brands granted Altava Group the license to use some of its NFTs. Altava leveraged on the firm’s advanced digital property rights for open metaverse to use its Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs.

In June 2023, Siu in reaction to the SEC’s clampdown on crypto, said the firm will leave the U.S market. According to the executive chairman, the activities of the SEC is hostile and could affect the growth of the industry.

Yat Siu’s Efforts Towards Web3 Development

Yat Siu is regarded as one of those at the forefront of web3 adoption. On numerous occasions, the investor voiced his strong support for a decentralized web. To every extent, he has continued to use Animoca Brands to pursue his interest in the web3 space.

In December 2022, Animoca Brands purchased a majority stake in a music metaverse platform, Pixelynx Inc., a subsidiary of PIXELYNX. The firm intends to design a virtual studio with enabling infrastructures that can strengthen the future of the music industry. According to Animoca Brands, it hopes to attain the goal by integrating with gaming, web3 technologies, and prominent communities.

Meet KORUS – musical AI companions and the future of music from our subsidiary @pixelynx_io 🎶🤖 KORUS AI companions will revolutionize the creation of #music by evolving and adapting based on your choices, unleashing creativity, and enabling creators to earn from music with a… https://t.co/V9NjOcGQbD pic.twitter.com/PACIoq9ML6

— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) April 28, 2023

Siu re-emphasized his commitment to web3 during the 2022 Australian Blockchain Week. There, he explained how he has been able to leverage Animoca brands to open up opportunities enveloped in web3. The co-founder advocated for the swift adoption of web3 to avoid the continuous dominance of big tech companies. He described how Web2 companies are combating the adoption of web3 due to the revenue they generate from users patronage.

Yat Siu highlighted the need for all web3 industry participants to collaborate and push for the adoption of the sphere. As part of the efforts toward achieving this, Siu leveraged Animoca Brands to launch Club3. According to the firm, the platform will serve as a private member-only club for web3 enthusiasts and will be used as a meeting arena for active participants in the industry.

Meanwhile, Siu has specifically targeted Asia and the Middle East in his quest to facilitate web3 development. This is due to how various governments and institutions in the aforementioned regions have supported the initiative. In March 2023, Animoca Brands invested in Nuqtah, a prominent NFT marketplace.

With the investment, Animoca Brands intended to ensure the participation of local artists and tech enthusiasts in the blockchain sphere of Saudi Arabia. While speaking about the investment, Yat Siu referred to it as another remarkable step in Animoca Brands’ commitment to develop the web3 space in the Middle East. He referred to Nuqtah as a prominent pioneer of the web3 revolution in Saudi Arabia. According to Sui, the platform has enough potential to advance the adoption of NFT and web3 in the region.

Today, @NuqtahNFT, Saudi Arabia's first #NFT marketplace platform, announced that it has raised a seed round of funding with participation from Animoca Brands, @0xPolygon, and regional investors.

Read the full announcement: https://t.co/d5S19s6qP3#OpenMetaverse #web3 #MENA

— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) March 15, 2023

As part of his efforts towards ensuring more participation in the decentralized internet, Yat Siu, in April 2023, oversaw Animoca Brands’ collaboration with Emergent to add more user-friendly features to its MMORPG. The firm assisted Emergent in key areas like governance, tokenomics, business strategy, strategic partnership development, and marketing.

In May 2023, Animoca Brands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with STC Play. The MOU is a commercial agreement that provided Animoca brands with the needed infrastructure to distribute blockchain games in the Middle East. The collaboration, according to Yat Sui, surfaced as part of the firm’s expansion into the Middle East. He added that Animoca Brands will leverage the partnership to ensure the advancement of the web3 sphere in the region.

In early 2024, Animoca Brands joined forces with Chess.com and World Chess Champion, Magnus Carlsen to launch the first phase of its Web3 game project, Anichess. The newly launched game is available for free on its website and has been fully optimized to suit the preferences of mobile and web players. According to the Web3 platform, the game provides players with a renewed version of their favorite classic game.

Above all, Siu’s contributions to the advancement of the Web3 space have been invaluable. Hence, it is no surprise that he was recognized as one of the top members of the ForbesWeb3 inner circle.

Is Yat Siu Pro Crypto?

Apart from being popular as a web3 entrepreneur, Yat Siu is also a committed advocate of crypto and blockchain. He is one of those who believe in the potential of crypto to improve the existing system in the financial world and help grant access to the unbanked across the world. In recent years, Siu demonstrated a huge commitment to fostering the development of online gaming, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens.

He understands that the gaming ecosystem is very important to facilitate the widespread adoption of crypto and NFTs. Driven by this idea, Siu co-founded a venture capital, Animoca Brands which has now invested strategically in more than 340 projects spanning finance, gaming, metaverse, crypto, and blockchain.

Today, Animoca Brands owns The Sandbox, a metaverse-based gaming platform and has also bought a stake in Dapper Labs, the parent company of Cryptokitties. Also, the firm currently backs Axie Infinity, a leading crypto game as well as OpenSea, popular as one of the largest NFT marketplaces in the world. These and many more speak volumes about Siu’s commitment to transforming the digital space at large. Meanwhile, his inestimable efforts have not only earned him fame but have also established him as one of the leaders in the industry.

Occasioned by his status in the industry, Siu usually receives scores of invitations to grace and deliver keynote speeches at various blockchain and web3 conferences. The co-founder finds no problem in devoting his time to attend these events in a bid to speak about the future potential of web3, crypto, NFTs and blockchain. For instance, around 2023, he delivered an electric speech at the WOW Summit Conference in Hong Kong. This conference was initiated to provide a networking opportunity and a platform for tycoons in the evolving web3 space to share substantial ideas.

While at the conference, Siu spoke extensively on the various efforts by Animoca Brands to onboard billions of users into web3. He said Animoca Brands has continued to show interest in startups with the potential to aid the mass adoption of web3 and contribute to the open metaverse.

According to him, the goal is to strip power from the tech monopolies of web2 so as to ensure the return of online ownership of digital properties to users. He described web3 as the future of the internet that will thrive on blockchain and called on other proponents to come together in a bid to strengthen the presence of the space.

Also, Siu, in his speech on the potential of crypto, referenced the banking crisis in the U.S., stressing that the development places crypto as the safety net for investors. 

“If you take a look at what happened recently with the whole development with Silicon Valley Bank, which was obviously shocking, and with Credit Suisse being taken over by UBS…actually the narrative was played out quite differently for crypto. It started to actually bifurcate as some people had predicted, which is that sort of future, let’s say, safety net,” he said.

Meanwhile, the tech expert was also one of the keynote speakers at the 2023 Ethereum Community Conference which started on July 17 and ended on July 20, 2023. He will also speak at the Future Blockchain Summit in Dubai around October 2023. 

In recognition of his efforts toward the advancement of the digital space, Siu was recently appointed as a member of a task force established by the Hong Kong authorities to foster the development of web3. The task force is led by Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan and comprises 15 representatives from various market sectors.

In his acceptance speech, Siu said “I am honored to be appointed to the Task Force and I look forward to contributing to this forward-thinking initiative. The task force firmly establishes Hong Kong as the leading example of a mature and highly modernized economy that embraces the remarkable opportunities presented by Web3, blockchain, virtual assets, and the open metaverse.”

“I believe that the work of the task force will help to shape not only Hong Kong but also globally in the adoption of blockchain technologies, particularly in the areas of regulation, ecosystem building, industry development, and talent development,” he added.

Meanwhile, Siu, in recent times, has been vocal about the ongoing efforts by authorities across the globe to regulate the sector. Around May, he reacted to the white paper on web3 development published by Beijing authorities, describing it as a foundation for transforming the crypto sector in mainland China. In the white paper, the Beijing government affirms its willingness to “strengthen policy support and seek technological breakthroughs” so as to support the industry.

In reaction, Siu said “I think it could be viewed as an avenue eventually laying the groundwork for perhaps people in China to also participate officially and legally in the ownership and acquisition of digital assets through Hong Kong.”

The Animoca Brands co-founder is also one of those crypto leaders who expressed reservations about the tough stance of the U.S. government on the industry. In a 2023 interview, he spoke about how Hong Kong will be a beneficiary of the regulatory confusion in the United States. According to him, the gradual change in Hong Kong’s stance on crypto and web3 will put the city in a position to attract development to its jurisdiction.

Unlike Hong Kong, Siu believes the U.S. has been inconsistent in its approach to regulate the volatile sector. He said; “The SEC doesn’t seem to be wanting to be consistent about this, in contrast to Hong Kong, or other jurisdictions like Japan, the Middle East or even Europe, which have rules that are starting to become consistent.”

In another interview, he spoke about how crypto’s PR issue in America is being driven by the country’s attitude towards another “C” word: capitalism. Siu argues that the situation is different in Asia where people have adopted capitalism after failing with other economic and political systems.

“The no-coiners thing is predominantly a Western narrative. It’s much more predominant in America and Europe. In  Asia, we don’t have that. And I think a lot has to do with people’s perspectives towards capitalism,” he said.

However, Siu has no doubt about the potential of crypto to even save the Western’s capitalist perception issue in the future. 

“I think Web3 and crypto can save the capitalist narrative,” he says. “They can reintroduce the value of democracy—which, frankly, a lot of people have started to lose faith in, more so in the West—[back into capitalism].“

Crypto & NFT Holdings Of Yat Siu

Just like other leaders in the industry, Yat Siu also has a crypto portfolio. However, he prefers to conceal information about his crypto holdings and its overall value from the public domain. But, Siu has, in recent years, expressed bullish views about Bitcoin and Ethereum, thus fueling speculations from various sections of the media that he holds some.

As a matter of fact, one of the sources describes him as an early investor in Bitcoin. If this is anything to go by, then we can affirm that the massive rise in the value of the token in recent years must have influenced the net worth of Yat Siu. Recall that scores of prominent Bitcoin investors made their fortunes through the surge which triggered the value of the token to thousands of dollars.

That said, Siu is also bullish about NFTs. Over the years, he leveraged Animoca Brands to strategically invest in NFT gaming. He also has an NFT portfolio but has chosen to keep the details from the public. 

Yat Siu Net Worth – Our Verdict

Yat Siu is one of the individuals that have provided leadership for the crypto and web3 community. He strongly believes in a digital economy that takes away the monopoly of big techs and returns online ownership of digital properties to users. This thus explains why he has been leveraging Animoca Brands to invest in web3 as well as the development of the open metaverse. On numerous occasions, Siu pledged not to rest until power is fully stripped from the likes of Google, Apple, and so on whom he described as “digital dictators.”

Meanwhile, his developmental activities in the industry have earned him a fortune. Today, Yat Siu is one of the millionaires in the sphere, with a net worth of about $100 million.

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