Animoca Brands has made a strategic investment in Ava Labs and will support projects building on the Avalanche blockchain, prioritizing expansion in Asia and the Middle East. The Hong Kong–based Web3 firm said the partnership will target sectors such as real-world assets, digital identity and entertainment, offering business development support and access to regional networks to help Avalanche-based teams scale and reach institutional users.
Projects supported through the collaboration may leverage Animoca’s broader portfolio and ecosystem connections. The initiative is designed to bolster Avalanche’s presence in markets with rising digital-asset activity by backing deployments that need scalable infrastructure and compatibility with common blockchain standards. Animoca will work with Avalanche developers on product integrations and funding, initially focusing on launches and growth in the Middle East and Asia.
Central to the effort is connecting builders with capital and distribution channels for use cases like tokenized assets and identity systems aimed at institutional and government-backed deployments. Animoca manages a portfolio of more than 600 blockchain projects and recently secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider license from Dubai’s regulator, enabling an expanded crypto services footprint in the region.
Ava Labs is the core development contributor to Avalanche, a Layer 1 blockchain designed for high-speed, low-cost applications. Its native token AVAX is used for transactions, staking and securing the network. Neither company revealed the investment amount or which specific projects will receive funding.
Hong Kong emerges as a regulated crypto hub
The partnership comes as Hong Kong positions itself as a digital-asset hub. In 2023 the city introduced a licensing regime requiring crypto trading platforms to register with the Securities and Futures Commission, enabling regulated retail access under stronger investor protections. In 2024 Hong Kong approved the city’s first spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs and later authorized a spot Solana ETF, making it one of the earliest markets to list such products ahead of the U.S.
Authorities and financial institutions in Hong Kong have also advanced initiatives beyond trading, including stablecoins, tokenized bonds and blockchain-based trade finance. Officials announced a new digital asset platform to support issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, with plans to connect to regional tokenization infrastructure. Hong Kong and Shanghai authorities have agreed to collaborate on blockchain-based trade finance and cargo data, exploring a cross-border platform for digitizing trade documentation under the HKMA’s Project Ensemble.
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