In 2026, the utility token will become a reality

For Animoca Brands co‑founder Yat Siu, 2025 will be remembered as “the Trump year,” The industry has overbetted on Donald Trump and has mispriced tariffs, rate cuts, and everything else.

Trump’s code of cheating was expected to come in 2025. Instead, Bitcoin (BTC() has been on a downward trend for the fourth consecutive year. The liquidity of Memecoin has decreased. sucked into political side quests, and one of the sector’s longest‑running builders thinks the market over‑trusted the new president.​

“If I had to give it a grade, I would say B-/C+,” Siu said. Trump’s crypto was his currency, traders said. “first child,” He says but in fact, “we’re probably his third, fourth or fifth child, maybe even an eighth child.”

Trump’s Priorities (tariffs and trade wars) hit risk assets hardSiu said that when the president launches a tariff battle, it’s a war of words. “not thinking about what’s going to happen to the price of Bitcoin.”​

Crypto’s was what he said “Trump trade” It’s clear that the 2025 predictions didn’t come true and 2026 is going to be a year when industry leaders will have to start focusing on real-world use cases and compliance. Animoca’s planned reverse-merger Public investors are interested in his listing. “altcoin proxy” As soon as US laws are clarified,

Related: March 2025 in charts: Trump trade war hits Bitcoin, $22M in DeFi hacks

Animoca’s IPO can be used as a proxy for altcoins

Animoca believes that 2026 will be the year when public markets get a viable altcoin substitute. The company plans to go public via a reverse merger with Currenc Group, a Nasdaq‑listed fintech, on terms that would leave Animoca owning 95% of the combined entity. “Technically, on paper they buy us,” He said “although we control that.”​

MicroStrategy is the obvious choice. become a leveraged public vehicle for Bitcoin exposureThere is no comparable for a long tail of tokens. “If you’re an investor and you want to have exposure to crypto, you definitely will need to have your Bitcoin … and then you have the swath of altcoins, and how do you get exposure to that?”

Buying a base‑layer token like Ether (ETHSolanaSOLHe claims that this only gives limited access. Animoca is positioning itself as a publicly listed, SoftBank style aggregator for altcoins, giving public market investors a way of owning a diversified piece of the Web3 and altcoin stack.

Siu stated that the firm owns 620 companies in its portfolio and has invested in 100 projects since last year. Animoca’s unaudited bookkeeping for the fiscal year of 2024 was Animoca. $314 million, and the company has been EBITDA‑positive (profitable on its core operations, before loans and taxes) for four consecutive years.

Over time, Siu expects Animoca itself to be fully tokenized, transforming the company into a bridge between traditional equity markets and onchain ownership.​

Related: Animoca bets on altcoin upside to lure investors as it plans for IPO

Clarity is the key to GENIUS. “tokenize or die”

Siu’s bet on an altcoin‑proxy initial public offering (IPO) makes sense if the regulatory ground solidifies, and he sees key US legislation, including the Clarity Act You can also read about the GENIUS ActAs catalytic and not existential.

“The phrase we like to use is ‘Tokenize or die,'” He added. He believes that incumbents will enter the market once they have established a standard framework to issue, trade and supervise tokens. “Crypto companies are happy to skate on the edge … but if you’re an established company, whether you’re public or private, why take the chance?”​

He cites the response of large brands when stablecoin rules firmed up in Washington, and suddenly, after years of hand‑wringing, “everyone is doing stablecoins.” And he expects the same pattern once the Clarity Act formalizes token classification and market‑structure rules next year.

The established issuers are now launching tokens linked to their current businesses, because they have finally “legal certainty, which they didn’t have before.”​

Here, real-world assets (RWAs) Tokenized securities are the link in an industry that is expected to reach trillions of dollars by 2030. Animoca has already started cutting RWA partnerships, including a deal with Grow, a major Chinese asset manager, to work on tokenization and access to token markets for traditional clients.​​

Related: Animoca eyes stablecoins, AI, DePIN as it expands focus in 2026: Exec

Utility tokens will be introduced in 2026

Siu is convinced that the next shift in thematic focus has already taken place. “The theme of institutionalization of crypto will continue,” He said that 2026 would be the year of his death “new retail” Entrants will be subject to clearer regulations and their products designed for actual use.

Until now, he said — a trend that reached a peak during the memecoin season  — so much was focused on the existing crypto trader and launching tokens and memecoins with platforms like Pump.fun.

The market is forcing builders to rethink their strategy.

You can also find out more about the following: “memecoin madness” It was concluded by Trump and Melania Trump‑branded tokens As of early in the year, Official TrumpTRUMPMelania Meme ) has dropped more than 75 percent from its peak.MELANIAIts peak was around 90% lower than its current level, and hundreds of thousands small wallets are sitting on their losses.

Siu claimed that the alleged occurrence was “one heck of a vampire attack on the meme community,” The retail sector is being scorched, and the liquidity of the other markets has been sucked out.

In the future, as capital moves away from speculation and towards products that address real issues for brands, gamers and creators, users will become more interested in these solutions. “crypto people” In the first instance,

The Clarity and GENIUS Acts, he argues, lay down a compliant issuance path. “2026 will be the year of the utility token because everyone will launch a token that has a use case, and we can talk about it.”

What is the growth of crypto-companies?

“They have to, they have to … We’re not the only company going IPO.”