Temasek Doubles Down on Web3 But Singapore Still Wary of “Speculation”

Hong Kong-based blockchain giant Animoca Brands is set to receive US$100 million from Temasek, Singapore’s state investment fund.

According to Bloomberg, who cited people familiar with the matter, Temasek will be financing the latest raise through convertible bonds.

Animoca, whose portfolio contains top metaverse projects including The Sandbox and Decentraland, raised $75 million in July in a round that was led by existing investors Liberty City Ventures, 10T and Kingsway Capital – the second part of a US$360 million raise from January this year led by prominent investors including George Soros and the Winklevoss twins. The company is now valued at US$6 billion.

The global Metaverse revenue opportunity is expected to reach US$800 billion in 2024 vs. about US$500 billion in 2020, based Bloomberg’s analysis and Newzoo, IDC, PWC, Statista and Two Circles data.

According to Temasek, blockchain-based technologies “is a long term trend and will have a transformational impact across multiple industries and geographies.”

Temasek is no stranger to investments in the crypto space – in 2021, the state-owned investor led a US$420.69 million Series B1 funding round for FTX, which valued the crypto bourse at US$25 billion. It also invested in Coinbase’s IPO but has since exited the position.

This year, the firm led digital asset infrastructure firm Amber Group’s $200 million in a Series B+ funding round, and led the Series C funding round for Sydney-based Immutable X (IMX), a layer 2 scaling solution for NFTs on Ethereum.

However, Temasek has also said that it doesn’t directly invest in cryptocurrencies and prefers to back service providers in the space instead.

Crypto Isn’t Going Mainstream Anytime Soon, Ensures MAS

MAS wants to protect retail investors from the speculative nature of crypto market, and more “friction” is on the cards.

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On Monday, MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) chairman Ravi Menon announced that the central bank is contemplating “adding friction” on retail access to cryptocurrencies, as retail investors remain “irrationally oblivious” of speculative nature of crypto.