Animoca Brands Shifts Focus with Bus-Like Blockchain Vision
Evan Auyang, president of Animoca Brands, is not your typical crypto executive. Before joining one of Hong Kong's most prominent Web3 startups, he worked in finance and public transit. His time as deputy managing director of Kowloon Motor Bus Company, which operates over 4,000 buses carrying 2.5 million passengers daily, has significantly influenced his approach to the blockchain industry.
Auyang believes that a bus lowers costs for everyone going to their desired destination and is an efficient way to deploy resources. He applied this thinking to crypto by pushing Animoca into stablecoin ventures and working with established companies like Standard Chartered and HKT. Their joint venture, Anchorpoint, launched the Hong Kong dollar stablecoin in 2025, which has a distinct advantage over non-US dollar stablecoins due to Hong Kong's currency being pegged to the US dollar since 1983.
Auyang emphasizes that Anchorpoint is an independent entity and declined to speak for the venture itself. However, he explained why Animoca needed to work with established companies: 'You guys understand regulation, you can work with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and you understand how to get something like this approved and done.' He added that a stablecoin's value comes from its ability to connect unbanked individuals (1.3 billion globally) to the financial system.