Animoca Brands CEO Robby Yung explains the ‘open’ metaverse

Episode 29 of Season 4 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block’s Frank Chaparro and Robby Yung CEO at Animoca Brands.

Listen below, and subscribe to The Scoop on AppleSpotifyGoogle PodcastsStitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Email feedback and revision requests to [email protected].

Animoca Brands, the Hong-Kong based digital entertainment startup behind the popular blockchain metaverse platform The Sandbox, raised $358.88 million in January at a valuation of over $5 billion in a funding round led by Liberty City Ventures.

In this episode of The Scoop, CEO of Animoca Brands Robby Yung discusses his company’s growth and shares his philosophy on what it means to build an ‘open’ metaverse platform.

As Yung explained during the interview:

"Our job is very much more like a government from an economics standpoint because we levy what’s akin to a tax on the ecosystem for providing the ecosystem… Our focus is on encouraging economic activity, it doesn’t have to be us selling things to customers, it can be customers selling amongst themselves."

Whereas web2 game designers rely on a "storefront model" in which users purchase content directly, web3 metaverse projects such as The Sandbox reap revenue from users’ transaction fees generated from in-game interactions.

As Yung commented:

"...In an open metaverse we’re providing a public service, but at the same time we need to be mindful that we need to make a profit for our shareholders. You need to balance those two things and not put one at the expense of the other."

The Sandbox is an "open" virtual world meaning it provides the basic infrastructure for users to build their own customized experiences. This is something that is central to Yung’s vision for how an open metaverse should operate:

"I’m actually most excited about the stuff that I can’t imagine happening with my products, because other people are going to innovate those things."

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Besides The Sandbox, Animoca Brands has over 150 investments in other NFT and metaverse projects. The studio recently announced its acquisition of racing game developer Eden Games.

During this episode Chaparro and Yung also discuss:

  • Web3 friction points
  • Metaverse tokenomics
  • Play-and-earn games vs play-to-earn

This episode is brought to you by our sponsors FireblocksCoinbase Prime & Cross River
Fireblocks is an enterprise-grade platform delivering a secure infrastructure for moving, storing, and issuing digital assets. Fireblocks enables exchanges, lending desks, custodians, banks, trading desks, and hedge funds to securely scale digital asset operations through the Fireblocks Network and MPC-based Wallet Infrastructure. Fireblocks serves over 725 financial institutions, has secured the transfer of over $1.5 trillion in digital assets, and has a unique insurance policy that covers assets in storage & transit. For more information, please visit www.fireblocks.com.

About Coinbase Prime
Coinbase Prime is an integrated solution that provides institutional investors with an advanced trading platform, secure custody, and prime services to manage all their crypto assets in one place. Coinbase Prime fully integrates crypto trading and custody on a single platform, and gives clients the best all-in pricing in their network using their proprietary Smart Order Router and algorithmic execution. For more information, visit www.coinbase.com/prime.

About Cross River
Cross River is powering today’s most innovative crypto companies, with banking and payments solutions you can rely on, including fiat on/off ramp solutions. Whether you are a crypto exchange, NFT marketplace, or wallet, Cross River’s API-based, all-in-one platform enables banking as a service, ACH & wire transfers, push-to-card disbursements, real-time payments, and virtual accounts and subledgers. Request your fiat on/off ramp solution now at crossriver.com/crypto.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Authors

Davis Quinton is the Director of Podcasts at The Block and runs our flagship podcast called The Scoop, hosted by Frank Chaparro. Since joining The Block as an 'intern' in early 2022, he has worked closely with leaders across departments to translate The Block's written content into engaging multimedia formats. He holds a degree in Social Research & Public Policy from New York University in Abu Dhabi and is based in Sydney, Australia.
Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].