What is the $20 billion question?

The mobile gaming business is missing a big opportunity, according to Yat Siu, a tech veteran and co-founder of mobile gaming Animoca Brands (ASX:AB1).

"Mobile gaming generates about $B70, with almost all of that money coming from a very small number of players, about two to three percent.

"This very small group is purchasing in-game items like coins, swords or game play items" he told me.

"But, if you can increase the conversion rate of 'players to spenders' by just one percent, you increase the market by US$20 billion." he told InsideMarket.

So the twenty billion dollar question is, how does Animoca Brands leverage off that?

When it comes to scaling, Yat Siu has extensive experience.

He started Hong Kong's first internet provider, back in the 1990's, but after the dotcom bubble burst, his business grew and at one point, handle 40% of all America's email traffic.

Today, the Singapore based Animoca Brands, with a current market capitalisation of around AU$70 million, is betting on blockchain technology and artificially intelligent gaming, in the same way he saw an opportunity in email and internet services.

“About 30 years ago, the total number of internet connections was around 36 million. Today, the entire blockchain is powered by about 30 million wallets, so it’s roughly the same scale.

According to Yat, if one was to compare articles about blockchain now, with discussions in the mid 1990's about the internet, they too were very similar.

Animoca's blockchain strategy is built around items that are created by the game maker or players themselves and therefore, each have unique qualities. These are called non-fungible tokens. Think of the items like digital art work, with some artists gaining popularity and therefor value.

I spoke with Yat Sui from his Singapore office, to find out more about his strategy, and importantly, when and if, Animoca Brands investors might start seeing some serious returns.

You can get few fundamentals on Animoca Brands here courtesy of Simply Wall Street.

And for more detail on Yat Sui career, this article from EJinsight.com is worth a read.