Animoca Brands Japan appoints new COO in expansion drive

Animoca Brands Japan has announced the appointment of Kensuke Amo as its new chief operating officer as it seeks to expand its Japanese market and revive its Web3 push in Asia.

Amo joined the gaming and metaverse firm after six years at Coincheck, a Japanese digital asset exchange, where he was the managing executive officer. In his role, he oversaw the development of new businesses.

Some of his initiatives included the creation of Japan’s first NFT marketplace and the country’s first initial exchange offering platform. The latter enabled Japanese blockchain firms to raise money by selling their tokens directly on Coincheck rather than conducting an ICO. One of the companies that leveraged Coincheck’s IEO was Brilliantcrypto, a subsidiary of local gaming firm COLOPL.

We’re pleased to welcome Kensuke Amo (@amokensuke) as the COO of our subsidiary @animocabrandskk. With a proven track record of launching NFT businesses and leading new initiatives, Kensuke Amo will take on various challenges at Animoca Brands Japan.https://t.co/qN2eM6Vfv5 pic.twitter.com/fvIKuLxqFK

— Animoca Brands 🛫TOKEN2049 🇸🇬 (@animocabrands) February 1, 2024

Amo also worked with dozens of Japanese Web3 companies to explore partnership opportunities with Coincheck, including Animoca Brands Japan, the Japanese subsidiary of Animoca Brands, which is behind The Sandbox metaverse game, and dozens more. The parent company was valued at $6 billion in its most recent fundraising event in 2022.

“I am very pleased to join Animoca Brands, one of the world’s leading Web3 companies. Animoca Brands has a culture of open-mindedness, kindness, and good people who are straight-up about Web3 technology,” Amo said.

He pledged to make the most of Animoca Brands Japan’s networks and assets, which include over 400 portfolio companies. He also plans to bring his two-decade experience “to help Web3 take root in society.”

Animoca Brands Japan’s CEO Daisuke Iwase believes Amo will play an integral role in connecting the East Asian nation “to the rest of the world in the Web3 domain, such as overseas development of Japanese intellectual property and content (IP) and overseas IP development in Japan.”

Amo took over a role vacated by Arnoldo Concepcion last year when he jumped ship to become CEO of Gryfyn, a subsidiary of Animoca that offers an NFT-centric digital asset wallet.

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