Jack Paul 
Yat Siu will take over as CEO of Animoca Brands on Dec. 1, 2026, while keeping the executive chairman title. The company announced the move on Nov. 9. Siu will now handle daily operations and project development, with the board still responsible for strategy, governance and compliance oversight. Evan Auyang, group president since 2021, will shift to a senior advisory role and report to the board.
Leadership Change
The change puts Siu closer to execution at a time when Animoca is trying to connect AI agents with digital finance. The company says its portfolio includes more than 600 companies and digital assets, plus projects it builds such as The Sandbox and Anichess. Robby Yung, a former Animoca CEO, appears on the new senior executive team as CEO of investments and CEO of The Sandbox. That lineup suggests the firm wants clear operating owners as it pushes into new products.
AI Agents and Institutional Products
Animoca is grouping its strategy around three areas. The first is Minds, a personal AI agent platform. Siu said Minds launched in beta about six months ago. The pitch is simple enough: users could give instructions in normal language instead of dealing with wallets, fees and bridging themselves. The second area is institutional digital money and investment products. The third is Moca Network and AIR, which the company says provide identity, credentials and permissions agents need to transact securely and verifiably.
The institutional work was already moving before the CEO change. Animoca was co-developing NUVA, a marketplace for tokenized real-world assets, with Provenance Blockchain Labs, The Defiant reported in August 2025. Siu also pointed to NUVA and the firm’s collaboration with Franklin Templeton as efforts to widen access to tokenized investments.
Portfolio Priorities
For existing portfolio companies, Siu listed product focus, real-world utility, operational discipline and capital efficiency. He said institutional capabilities should turn into adoption and sustainable revenue. The longer aim is for AI agents that can access investments, allocate capital and transact for users. I think the execution risk is real, perhaps especially around permissions and trust. Still, the direction is clear: Animoca wants agents to handle more of the financial workflow, while institutions get products they can actually use.