Open Campus, Animoca Brands Corporation Ltd and Rich Sparkle Holdings Limited (NASDAQ: ANPA) have entered a strategic partnership centred on a planned acquisition of up to US$50 million worth of EDU tokens over the next 24 months.
Under the agreement, US-listed ANPA will make its first major move into digital assets by purchasing EDU tokens via open-market and over-the-counter (OTC) transactions. Animoca Brands will also support the initiative with a contribution of US$3 million worth of EDU tokens.
Education finance
The collaboration is aimed at developing education finance (EduFi) infrastructure that links traditional capital markets with Web3. ANPA plans to leverage its corporate client network of more than 190 publicly listed companies across Hong Kong and the United States to help drive institutional adoption of EduFi and expand real-world use cases for the EDU token, which serves as the governance token of the Open Campus DAO and the native gas token of EDU Chain.
As a provider of ESG reporting and compliance services, ANPA will additionally work with Open Campus on building an ecosystem for sustainable financing in emerging markets, with a focus on channelling capital towards education, financial inclusion and impact-oriented initiatives. EDU tokens acquired by ANPA are expected to be used primarily for staking, governance participation and the company’s EduFi market entry strategy.
Education is key
Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said education remains a key area for blockchain-based innovation. “Education is the foundation of opportunity, and blockchain offers a powerful tool to enhance access and financial literacy worldwide,” he said, noting that the US$1.8 trillion US student loan market is in urgent need of innovation and disruption.
ANPA CEO Matthew Chan said the company sees “immense potential in blockchain to transform education finance into an accessible, transparent ecosystem”, adding that the partnership and EDU token investment reflect ANPA’s conviction in a next-generation, Web3-powered EduFi platform.
Open Campus president Mohamed Ezeldin described the partnership as a defining moment for the project. He said the initiative is intended not only to bring fresh capital into the EDU ecosystem, but also to highlight the view that education finance should benefit from the same ownership, transparency and opportunity that blockchain has brought to other sectors.