Animoca’s Evan Auyang worked in finance and public transit before crypto—Why he thinks the blockchain should be more like a bus

Animoca Brands-backed Anchorpoint began a phased rollout of a regulated Hong Kong dollar stablecoin, with potential retail availability by year-end after securing HKMA clearance as one of only two approved applicants out of 36. The venture must maintain at least HK$25 million ($3.2 million) of paid-up capital and fully back tokens with segregated liquid reserves. Animoca is also expanding into AI agents, but its Nasdaq reverse-merger listing with Currenc Group was suspended on Sept. 22 amid market conditions; the company is still completing its 2024 accounts after bookings fell 30% from 2022 to 2023.

Analysis

The suspended CURR transaction removes its clearest near-term rerating catalyst and leaves a reverse-merger vehicle exposed to financing, liquidity, and credibility discounts. Unless CURR discloses a replacement target with audited financials and committed capital, the stock should trade on cash value rather than strategic optionality over the next 1-3 months. The more important signal is that public-market readiness remains constrained by reporting backlog risk, which raises the probability that any eventual listing requires more dilutive terms.

HSBC and Standard Chartered gain a low-capital, regulated option on Greater China tokenized-payment flows, but reserve income and transaction fees will be immaterial to group earnings for several years. The commercial value lies in privileged access to corporate treasury, cross-border settlement, custody, and tokenized-deposit customers; a regulated HKD rail could defensively reduce the risk that offshore USD stablecoins disintermediate those relationships. This is a 6-18 month strategic moat issue, not an earnings catalyst, and the key KPI is disclosed issuance/outstanding balances and institutional payment volume rather than retail-user claims.

The contrarian read is that an HKD instrument is not a meaningful challenge to USD stablecoins merely because of its regulatory perimeter: the currency board imports USD monetary conditions, while liquidity, exchange integration, and merchant acceptance determine adoption. Regulatory scarcity can instead concentrate economics among incumbent banks, making STAN/HSBC relative beneficiaries while limiting upside for crypto-native partners. AI-agent commentary has no investable read-through for META absent evidence of proprietary distribution or monetization; hyperscalers retain model, compute, and consumer-acquisition advantages.

Near term, a risk-off response in CURR is likely underappreciated because transaction suspensions often trigger delayed redemption/capital-structure scrutiny. Conversely, a new audited filing, replacement merger agreement, or disclosed financing would invalidate a bearish stance quickly. For the banks, a material regulatory expansion of issuer permissions or evidence that HKD stablecoin balances cannibalize deposits rather than create payments volume would challenge the moat thesis.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Short CURR or buy 1-3 month puts only after confirming borrow availability and cash-per-share; target a return toward cash-value/discounted-shell valuation, with a hard stop on a replacement transaction accompanied by audited target financials and fully committed financing. This is a catalyst-driven trade, not a structural crypto short.
• Initiate a 6-12 month relative long STAN versus a broad European-bank hedge such as short EUFN: STAN has greater Asia payments and cross-border optionality, while stablecoin-related revenue is free upside rather than required for the thesis. Reassess if Hong Kong issuance remains negligible after retail availability or if Asia loan-loss provisions rise materially.
• Maintain HSBC as a watch-list overweight rather than add solely on this development; require quarterly disclosure of tokenized-payment volumes, custody mandates, or reserve balances before underwriting earnings upside. The relevant risk/reward is modest because group-level materiality is low.
• Avoid treating META as a beneficiary from the AI-agent narrative; prefer no position until there is evidence that third-party agents drive engagement or paid messaging. META's valuation sensitivity remains dominated by ad pricing, capex, and model monetization rather than this competitive signal.