Quick Breakdown
- •Animoca Brands bought Somo, a Vietnam-based NFT marketplace, to expand its digital collectibles portfolio.
- •The deal comes amid early 2026 NFT trading volume upticks, signaling sector recovery after a 2025 downturn.
- •The acquisition strengthens Animoca’s Web3 gaming and metaverse presence through integrated NFT infrastructure.
Animoca Expands NFT Footprint with Somo Purchase
Animoca Brands announced its acquisition of Somo, a leading NFT marketplace in Vietnam, on January 14, 2026. The move bolsters Animoca’s position in digital collectibles as NFT trading shows renewed activity early this year. Somo, known for handling high-volume NFT drops and gaming integrations, brings established user bases and tech to Animoca’s ecosystem. Blockchain data indicates Somo processed over 500,000 transactions in 2025 despite market slumps.
Big news: SOMO has been acquired by @animocabrands! This marks a major milestone that will accelerate our vision, expand our ecosystem, and take our IP to a truly global scale.
— SOMO (@playsomo) January 14, 2026
This purchase aligns with Animoca’s strategy to dominate Web3 gaming and metaverse assets. The company, valued at over $5 billion, now controls key NFT infrastructure amid reports of 15% weekly volume growth across major platforms such as OpenSea and Blur. Vietnam’s status as a crypto hub, with 20 million users, adds regional momentum.
NFT Trading Signals 2026 Recovery
NFT sales hit $450 million last week, up 25% from December 2025 lows, per CryptoSlam data. Blue-chip collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks led gains, with floor prices rising 10-18%. Institutional interest grows, as firms like Galaxy Digital eye tokenized assets on Solana.
Animoca plans to migrate Somo listings to its Mocaverse platform, enabling cross-chain NFT utility in games like The Sandbox. Analysts project $10 billion in NFT volume by Q2 2026 if Bitcoin sustains $95,000 levels. Past downturns saw 90% value drops, but low supply and gaming demand now support a rebound.
Related Industry Developments
Meanwhile, Blockstream is strategically expanding its business by entering the rapidly growing market for artificial intelligence computing. This major diversification is evidenced by the acquisition of 40,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, which will be housed in a secure Swiss data centre. The firm plans to lease this high-performance computing power to enterprise clients, thereby creating new revenue streams beyond its traditional blockchain services. Ultimately, this move is a pragmatic financial decision, using diversified infrastructure to stabilize economic growth and mitigate the impact of fluctuating margins within the cryptocurrency sector.