On Day 1 of the recently concluded Global Blockchain Show in Abu Dhabi, UAE, AltCoinDesk got the opportunity to interview Yat Siu, co-founder of Hong Kong-based game software and venture capital firm Animoca Brands.
The conversation touched on various topics, including web3 gaming, gamification, the industry’s evolution beyond the token era, and more. Siu also remarked that he believes altcoins, not Bitcoin, will ultimately drive mass crypto adoption.
Has the web3 space moved past the token era?
The digital assets space is, for lack of a better word, infamous for launching a token for every project, whether necessary or not. The same trend was observed during the heyday of the metaverse narrative, when every project tried to benefit from the momentum by launching its own token to entice potential investors.
However, things are much different in 2025. The token era is behind us now. Siu noted that a major problem earlier was that many of these so-called web3 games were not designed by web-3 native people. In fact, the developers merely translated the web2 construct into web3 framing.
According to Siu, the other issue is the high valuation of web3 gaming tokens. He noted that many of the token valuations have come significantly down.
Some of the companies we’re recently backing, we’re not actually buying tokens from the startup, we’re buying tokens on the actual liquid market. Because you can buy them cheaper than you were doing in the seed round.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
Siu also brought attention to a major recent regulatory development, the passing of the CLARITY Act by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Since the passing of the Act, gaming companies are far more comfortable discussing token valuations without any fear of prosecution by the SEC.
Gaming’s biggest competition is TikTok
When asked if any web3 game could witness Fortnite-level adoption, Siu said that it’s not just about putting a game on the blockchain. Rather, it is about imbibing the web3 ethos and culture within the gaming community. He highlighted the popularity of gamification among GenZ with the following example.
I think that for most people. Polymarket is a game. I dont think Polymarket is just a prediction market. The prediction making in and of itself is a game. I think even token trading for Gen Z is a game.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
Crypto as a hedge against AI
Siu made an intriguing statement during the event, referring to crypto as a hedge against AI. The entrepreneur first made the statement during his panel talk earlier in the day and elaborated on it further during the interview with AltCoinDesk.
What do you think is the asset class that AI is going to be using? It’s going to be crypto.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
Siu said that the best way to gain exposure to AI’s upside potential is by buying compute tokens. He noted that only a privileged few will get the opportunity to invest in leading AI firms like OpenAI, while the vast majority will never get this chance.
However, you can still indirectly gain exposure to AI’s rise by buying tokens. He drew a parallel between such tokens and an electronics firm buying raw commodities like cobalt, lithium, and others. By buying digital tokens, you’re essentially buying AI compute.
Altcoins will eclipse Bitcoin eventually
Towards the end of the interview, Siu made the bold claim that “altcoins, collectively, will be much larger than Bitcoin.” He clarified that it won’t be that any one altcoin will be greater than Bitcoin, but rather the total altcoin market cap will eventually overtake that of BTC.
To strengthen his argument, Siu gave the example of the stock market versus gold.
Gold is $27 trillion, stock market is $120 trillion. Why is that the case? Because just like gold and Bitcoin, we don’t spend and use it. It’s a collateral asset. However, we do use Google, we use Apple, we use Facebook, and we use Nvidia. And with crypto, what do we use? We don’t use Bitcoin. However, we use gas, we use tokens in gaming, we use it for DeFi, for DePIN.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands
He concluded by saying that Animoca wants to become “the altcoin index” for traditional investors in the public markets.
