Hoarded 4,092 Bitcoin! After This Gaming Company Made Over 900 Million, It's Now Down 200 Million

Why did AI Boyaa Interactive shift to Bitcoin investment after gaming regulation?

From making huge profits to losses, Boyaa Interactive (00434.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company that bet on Bitcoin, has experienced a dramatic turnaround in performance.

On March 15, the company disclosed its full-year 2025 results. Data shows that the company’s annual revenue was approximately HKD 468 million, a decrease of about 6.6% year-on-year, while attributable loss to shareholders was about HKD 239 million.

Compared to the profit of HKD 969 million in 2024, this company, which once relied heavily on crypto asset investments for big gains, has turned from profit to loss within a year.

Behind this performance report, the transformation trajectory of a veteran online gaming company over more than a decade is gradually emerging.

Starting with “Texas Hold’em,” experiencing a long downturn after regulatory turmoil, and then betting on Web3 and Bitcoin in an attempt to pivot.

However, when crypto asset prices fluctuate sharply, the company’s profits also fluctuate accordingly.

01

Bitcoin Price Drop Drags Performance from Profit to Loss

Looking at the revenue structure, Boyaa Interactive remains primarily a company focused on online gaming.

In 2025, the company’s online game revenue was about HKD 443 million, a slight decrease of 0.4% year-on-year, accounting for approximately 94.7% of total revenue.

Additionally, gains from digital asset appreciation were about HKD 21.68 million, down 61.4% year-on-year, representing about 4.6% of total revenue.

Compared to 2024, when gains from digital asset appreciation accounted for 11.2%, this proportion significantly declined in 2025.

What truly impacts performance is not revenue but the change in the book value of the company’s large holdings of crypto assets.

In November 2024, the company exchanged about 14,200 ETH for approximately 515 BTC on the open market, with a total market value of about USD 49.48 million (excluding transaction fees).

After the exchange, as of November 29, 2024, Boyaa Interactive held about 3,183 BTC, with an average cost of approximately USD 57,724 per BTC.

Entering 2025, the company further increased its Bitcoin holdings.

From August 5 to August 25, 2025, the company spent about HKD 257 million to buy approximately 290 BTC, increasing its total Bitcoin holdings to about 3,670 BTC, with an average purchase price of USD 62,878 per BTC.

Besides using its own funds, the company also allocated most of the proceeds from a placement to buy more Bitcoin.

On September 12, 2025, Boyaa Interactive successfully issued about 59.97 million new shares, raising net proceeds of about HKD 410 million.

Subsequently, the company used about HKD 370 million of this to purchase approximately 411 BTC, at an average price of about USD 115,420 per BTC.

By September 18, 2025, the company held about 4,091 BTC, with a total cost of approximately USD 279 million, averaging about USD 68,114 per BTC.

However, the crypto market did not develop entirely as the company expected.

As a global crypto market indicator, Bitcoin’s price increased by 125.32% in 2024 and even hit a record high of USD 126,251 on October 6, 2025. But afterward, the trend weakened, and prices continued to fall.

By the end of 2025, Bitcoin’s price dropped to around USD 87,000, with an annual return of -6.3%, marking a rare annual loss since 2014.

Bitcoin’s price decline also directly affected Boyaa Interactive’s financial performance. As of the end of 2025, it held about 4,092 BTC, with an average cost of about USD 68,211 per BTC.

The company disclosed that in 2025, the fair value of digital assets decreased by about HKD 411 million, whereas in 2024, it increased by about HKD 948 million.

Under this influence, the company’s unaudited non-IFRS adjusted loss for 2025 was about HKD 192 million, compared to a profit of about HKD 972 million in 2024.

Excluding the fair value changes of digital assets and equity investments in partnership firms, the company’s unaudited non-IFRS net profit in 2025 was about HKD 129 million, a decrease of approximately 37.2% year-on-year.

In other words, the company’s core business remains profitable, but the large fluctuations in crypto asset prices have significantly altered the final book profit.

As of the end of 2025, the company’s cash and cash equivalents were about HKD 62.125 million, and the fair value of digital assets was approximately HKD 2.918 billion.

The board of Boyaa Interactive also proposed a final dividend of HKD 0.0366 per share for 2025, totaling about HKD 28.102 million.

Compared to the HKD 0.1064 per share and total dividend of about HKD 75.602 million in 2024, the payout has shrunk significantly.

Despite the overall performance pressure, management still emphasized in the announcement that cryptocurrencies (mainly Bitcoin) are considered strategic assets for the company’s Web3 development, with no plans to sell in the short term.

The company stated that its online gaming business still generates stable cash flow, so fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices are not expected to have a substantial impact on daily cash flow or operations.

02

From the First Gaming Stock to Web3 Transformation

The story of Boyaa Interactive can be traced back to the early days of China’s mobile internet gaming.

Founded in 2004 by former Kingsoft (03888.HK) engineer Zhang Wei, headquartered in Shenzhen.

In November 2013, Boyaa Interactive went public in Hong Kong, becoming China’s first listed online poker company, with an IPO price of HKD 5.35.

Initially, relying on simple games like “Texas Hold’em,” “Dou Dizhu,” and “Sichuan Mahjong,” the company was highly favored by investors.

Driven by the flagship product “Texas Hold’em,” the company’s performance peaked in 2014, with total revenue reaching HKD 945 million.

In February of the same year, the stock price once rose to HKD 15.16.

But the good times didn’t last long.

In 2018, rumors spread that the “Management Measures for Online Card and Board Games” would be introduced, and that Texas Hold’em games might be banned entirely.

In September 2018, Tencent’s “Daily Texas” poker game announced it would delist and cease operation, pushing regulatory turmoil into the spotlight.

As a result, Boyaa Interactive, whose main income relied on “Texas Hold’em,” saw a sharp decline in performance, with revenue dropping over 30% in 2018.

Meanwhile, the company also experienced a management upheaval.

In July 2017, Boyaa announced that its Shenzhen subsidiary was prosecuted for suspected corporate bribery, with Chairman Zhang Wei named as a co-defendant.

In September 2018, Zhang Wei resigned as CEO, executive director, and chairman. After his departure, early investor Dai Zhikang took over as chairman.

Dai Zhikang is a well-known figure in China’s internet industry. In 2001, he developed DISCUZ! community software, which once was one of the most widely used PHP forum software globally, and was acquired by Tencent for RMB 280 million in 2010.

Before that, in 2007, Dai Zhikang and Zhou Hongyi’s then-wife Hu Huan invested RMB 400,000 and RMB 300,000 respectively in Boyaa.

But even after the management change, the company struggled to reverse its declining performance.

In 2020, Boyaa recorded its first loss since listing, with attributable loss of about HKD 45.1 million, compared to a profit of HKD 33.76 million in 2019.

As performance declined, the company’s stock price also fell, remaining below HKD 1 for years, typical of so-called “penny stocks.”

Faced with difficulties, the company decided in 2023 to implement a strategic shift centered on Web3.

In December 2023, Boyaa began vigorously promoting infrastructure development and R&D of Web3 gaming products.

From 2024 to 2025, while maintaining its traditional online game operations, the company heavily invested in Web3, including incubating related projects and allocating Bitcoin assets.

At the same time, the company gradually shifted its focus to overseas markets.

By 2025, it launched 8 new online casual card games in Southeast Asia and Europe.

By the end of 2025, its online game portfolio included 27 titles available in 14 languages.

Notably, in June 2025, the company sold its mainland China online game operation business to focus on Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas markets, with no significant decline in overall game revenue.

The Web3 narrative also temporarily boosted the company’s stock price. In the second half of 2025, Boyaa’s stock price rose to HKD 9.36.

However, with the crypto market correction, the stock price fell again, with a decline of over 60% in the past six months.

As of the close on March 16, Hong Kong stock market, Boyaa was trading at HKD 2.96, up 5.34% for the day, with a total market value of about HKD 2.273 billion.

03

Conclusion

Looking ahead, the company remains optimistic.

Boyaa stated in its announcement: “We are long-term optimistic about the sustainable development of the Web3 industry and the future of cryptocurrencies (mainly Bitcoin).”

Some institutions share a similar view. James Butterfill, Head of Research at crypto asset management firm CoinShares, predicts that Bitcoin could be in the range of USD 120,000 to USD 170,000 in 2026.

However, for Boyaa Interactive, a more practical concern may be that once a gaming company’s balance sheet becomes highly tied to the crypto market, its future profitability will increasingly depend on Bitcoin price movements.

Before the Web3 narrative fully materializes, such volatility is likely to recur repeatedly.

Cover image generated by Doubao