TL;DR:
Full operational authorization: The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market granted the license to subsidiary Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited.
Strict target audience: The license enables the structuring and management of collective funds solely for professional and non-retail clients.
Regulatory timeline: The operational green light formally took effect on October 13 after receiving in-principle approval in November 2025.
Animoca Brands confirmed this Monday that its local subsidiary obtained final approval to commence fund management operations in Abu Dhabi . The move concludes the process before the regulator of the international financial center of the UAE capital.
We today announced that our subsidiary, Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited, has received a Financial Services Permission (FSP) by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of @ADGlobalMarket , the international financial center of Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE.
The FSP…
— Animoca Brands (@animocabrands) November 2, 2026
The company formalized receipt of the license through its asset management division, Animoca Asset Management (AD) Limited. The permit was issued by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and took effect on October 13.
The framework established by the FSRA limits the firm’s operations to investment vehicles that pool capital contributed by professional investors. This condition excludes retail clients from accessing the catalog of funds marketed or managed by the subsidiary. According to corporate documentation, mandates of this nature require compliance frameworks and suitability verification procedures that are significantly more rigorous than those applied to the general commercial segment.
The resolution closes a technical phase that began eleven months ago. In November 2025, the FSRA had issued conditional initial approval. The company had to fulfill a series of operational, governance, and risk management requirements prior to securing the definitive green light communicated to the market on this November 2, 2026.
Expansion of the Institutional Regulatory Framework in the Middle East
The milestone in the emirate of Abu Dhabi complements the company’s prior footprint in the United Arab Emirates . In February, Animoca Brands secured a license issued by Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) . That registration authorized the company to offer virtual asset broker-dealer services and institutional investment management within that specific jurisdiction.
Both authorizations carry distinct regulatory scopes. The Dubai permit primarily addresses brokerage and crypto-asset custody services, whereas the FSRA authorization in ADGM focuses on the direct incorporation and administration of collective investment funds.
According to market reporting, digital-native firms have ramped up applications for formal frameworks across the Middle East to channel institutional capital. Market sources note that the presence of licenses supervised by local financial authorities eases regulatory compliance hurdles for capital allocators and hedge funds.
In a corporate report filed in September, Animoca Brands detailed an operational pivot focused on establishing itself as a regulated financial services entity across multiple jurisdictions. The firm outlined that its institutional business areas include real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, stablecoin issuance and integration, and corporate treasury management services.
The group’s global portfolio encompasses holdings in more than 600 companies and projects tied to digital infrastructure and Web3 , including developments such as The Sandbox and Moca Network . The firm began operations in 2014 focused on mobile game production and development, before steering its capital and technical efforts toward blockchain technology in 2018.
ADGM’s public register enforces a rigorous supervisory threshold. According to data from FM Intelligence’s licensing tracker, Abu Dhabi’s financial jurisdiction accounts for 423 active licenses under the FSRA framework, compared to more than 4,100 registered by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA).
The company did not disclose the initial size of the funds, the launch date of the first vehicle, or the commercial names of the strategies it will roll out to qualified clients in Abu Dhabi. The next administrative step entails opening the mandate book and issuing formal notifications to qualified market participants under ADGM standards.
