30 January 2026 | Animoca and The Sandbox

In this episode, we look at the rise of Animoca, and the rise and fall of its metaverse project The Sandbox.

• [0:24] This week's show focuses on the details arising from Animoca's 2022 financials.
• [1:11] 2022 was a long time ago, but the report also discloses more recent financial details.
• [4:00] Animoca's business is particularly complex, even without worrying about crypto.
• [6:58] The most interesting details are about The Sandbox.
• [8:45] Around 50% of Animoca's balance sheet is illiquid tokens such as SAND, MOCA, and EDU.
• [9:40] Animoca bought The Sandbox dev Pixowl for $5 million in 2018.
• [11:10] At one point in 2021, The Sandbox was Animoca's main financial asset.
• [13:35] In 2022, Animoca spent over $100 million buying game devs, which it's since written off.
• [20:28] Animoca bought 30% of The Sandbox's holding company from its co-founders for $125 million.
• [25:20] The Sandbox first launched its alpha season in 2021. It's still in alpha.
• [28:25] Could genAI and AI agents help resurrect The Sandbox?
• [31:20] Now the valuation of The Sandbox is marginal for Animoca as a whole; less than 10%.
• [32:29] Animoca listing on Nasdaq will be good for the whole crypto sector.