Animoca co-founder Yat Siu: 2026 will be the year of utility tokens, and the crypto industry must move towards maturity

According to Odaily, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu stated that 2025 will be remembered as the "Year of Trump," not because it benefits the crypto industry, but because the market is excessively betting on political expectations and misjudging tariffs, interest rates, and macro policy directions, resulting in overall pressure on risk assets. He pointed out that the "crypto trade" surrounding Trump did not materialize as expected, and 2026 will force the industry to shift towards compliance and real-world application scenarios.

Siu believes that the key theme for 2026 will be the institutionalization and functionalization of the crypto industry. On one hand, as regulatory frameworks such as the Clarity Act and GENIUS Act become clearer, traditional institutions and large enterprises will be more motivated to enter the crypto market; on the other hand, the market focus will shift from speculative tokens and meme coins to functional tokens with clear use cases. He noted that the previous meme coin boom consumed a large amount of retail liquidity and has prompted the industry to enter a period of reflection.

At the capital market level, Siu revealed that Animoca plans to go public through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed fintech company Currenc Group, positioning itself as a public market vehicle for "altcoin exposure," providing investors with a broader Web3 and altcoin portfolio exposure than a single layer-1 chain token. He emphasized that as token issuance and trading rules become clearer, the tokenization of real-world assets and security tokens will become important bridges connecting traditional finance and the on-chain economy.

Siu concluded that, with increased regulatory certainty and changes in market structure, the crypto industry can no longer rely on narratives and speculation to drive growth. 2026 will become a turning point centered on real use cases and user value. (Cointelegraph)