LONDON - Hong Kong-based blockchain gaming developer Animoca Brands said its token reserves stood at $2.7 billion at the end of April, down some 36% from figures published a year earlier reflecting last year's plunge in crypto prices.

Animoca Brands in a statement on Thursday said it had around $3.4 billion in assets, including $194 million in cash and stablecoins, and $2.7 billion worth of "off-balance sheet token reserves".

A spokesperson said via email that this $2.7 billion worth of tokens, which were "not immediately liquid", was "largely the same metric" as the tokens which were valued at $4.2 billion at the end of April 2022.

Liquid digital assets were valued at $566 million, down from $659 million a year earlier, the company said.

"Crypto asset valuations have been affected by price volatility and declines since April 2022, which has affected the entire sector," the spokesperson said.

Animoca Brands, which invests in companies to build its vision of a "metaverse" based on blockchain technology and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), said in September it was valued at $5.6 billion after a funding round led by investors including Singapore-based Temasek.

But volatility in the crypto sector led it to scale back its target for its new metaverse fund, Reuters reported in March.

Crypto prices plunged in 2022 as a series of collapses at top crypto firms, including FTX, and heightened scrutiny from regulators, made investors more cautious about the nascent asset class.

Animoca Brands plans to publish audited financial statements for 2020 "soon", then further financial information about 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, the statement said.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; editing by Jason Neely)