Who Is Sebastien Borget? The Sandbox Co-Founder

Sebastien Borget (also written Sébastien) is a co-founder of The Sandbox who is billed as a lead investor in the film Hollywood Hills, yet the SEC filing for its mid-October 2026 raise lists no office or stake for him. He co-founded Pixowl with Arthur Madrid in 2011, and Pixowl released The Sandbox in 2012.

Republic's campaign page and the film's own site both put Borget under "Lead Investors & Partners." The amended offering statement draws a tighter line. It names Arthur Madrid and Marcelo Santurio as the only officers and gives every voting unit to a company Madrid owns, while its text mentions Borget only in two perk tiers that promise the biggest investors a dinner with him.

Sebastien Borget at a Glance

Who Is Sebastien Borget?

Borget co-founded the studio that made The Sandbox and stayed with the game after Animoca Brands bought it. An Animoca release in March 2020 called him "blockchain evangelist and co-founder and COO of The Sandbox" and credited him with "10 years in the gaming business."

Sebastien Borget's Career at Pixowl and Animoca Brands

Pixowl was founded in 2011, and Borget co-founded it with Arthur Madrid. The studio's catalogue paired its own world-builder The Sandbox with licensed mobile games such as Goosebumps HorrorTown and Snoopy's Town Tale.

Animoca Brands agreed in August 2018 to buy all of Pixowl for an upfront $4.875 million, with 10.7% of that in cash and the rest in Animoca shares. Its deal announcement named "founders Arthur Madrid and Sebastien Borget" and put The Sandbox mobile game at 40 million downloads.

By then Pixowl was building a blockchain version of the game with a marketplace for player-made NFTs. That plan turned The Sandbox into the kind of owned virtual world covered in what the metaverse is.

What Is The Sandbox?

The Sandbox is a blockchain game world where players hold LAND and other in-game assets as NFTs, and SAND is its token. It began as Pixowl's 2012 mobile game, and in September 2025 the SANDChain Foundation put its ecosystem at over 8 million users and 25,000 LAND owners.

SAND is one of the metaverse coins with a head start on owned virtual worlds. Its Phemex perpetual closed mid-October at 0.05974 USDT, up 10.18% from the previous day's close and the largest one-day gain among the 137 Phemex perpetuals with a move that day. One day isn't a trend, and that close was 10.76% below the close seven days earlier.

Phemex delisted the SAND perpetual in mid-August 2026 and listed it again in early October 2026. If you trade SAND futures there, leverage goes up to 50x, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses reach its margin. The SAND spot pair is under an October 2026 notice that ended its margin trading and says spot trading will be delisted at a later date.

Who Is the Founder of The Sandbox?

Arthur Madrid and Sébastien Borget founded The Sandbox through Pixowl, the studio they started in 2011 and the one that released the game in 2012. Sources on who founded The Sandbox name two or three people. Animoca's 2018 deal release names Madrid and Borget as Pixowl's founders, while Republic's campaign page adds a third, game designer Adrien Duermaël.

The two co-founders took different jobs. The film's SEC filing says Madrid was CEO of TSB Gaming, the company behind The Sandbox, from October 2018 to August 2025 and has been its chairman since.

By September 2025 the chief executive was Robby Yung, whom the SANDChain Foundation's release that month quoted as CEO of The Sandbox. Animoca's 2018 and 2020 releases never give Borget that title, and neither do the film's filing or the SANDChain release. Calling Borget The Sandbox's CEO gets the record wrong.

What Does Borget Do Outside The Sandbox?

Outside The Sandbox, Borget has a long record at the Blockchain Game Alliance, a Geneva-based group of game and blockchain companies that advocates for blockchain inside the games industry. The alliance elected him president in March 2020, when it counted over 90 member companies, according to Animoca's announcement of his election.

Borget held the post five years later. In March 2025 the alliance named Yasmina Kazitani co-president to work "alongside Sebastien Borget, our current President," and it then described itself as a coalition of over 300 companies.

His stated aim in 2020 was "true ownership for game players and creators," the principle that autonomous world blockchain games push furthest by putting a game's rules and items on a blockchain.

In September 2025 the SANDChain Foundation's launch release named Borget "co-founder of The Sandbox and global ambassador for SANDchain," a creator-focused blockchain that uses SAND for gas and governance. The same release quoted him calling SANDchain "a dedicated economic and engagement layer for creators across any platform."

What Is His Role in the Hollywood Hills Film?

In the marketing, Borget is a lead investor and partner in Hollywood Hills, a planned cosmic-horror feature from writer-director Benjamin Rozovas. Hollywood Hills LLC is raising money from the public on Republic under Regulation Crowdfunding, and its offering statement gives him neither a title nor units.

The billing holds across the campaign. Republic's campaign page lists his role as "Lead Investors & Partners," the film's site uses the same label for him and Madrid, and a press release dated early October 2026 in the filing's exhibits says the pair "are lead investors and partners."

The amended Form C that Hollywood Hills LLC filed in mid-October 2026 names two officers, Madrid as CEO and Marcelo Santurio as CFO. Its ownership table gives all 87 voting Class A units to Next Level Entertainment Group, a company whose "ultimate beneficial owner" is Madrid.

TSB Gaming, the company behind The Sandbox, holds the other 13 units without voting rights. It took them in March 2026 in return for assigning the script and other film IP to the film's company.

The body of the amended statement mentions Borget twice, and both mentions are investor perks. The $50,000 tier promises a day on set and a dinner that includes him, and the $100,000 tier promises a private development dinner with him and Madrid.

Madrid's money runs all through the filing. Beyond the voting units, he has advanced the company about $247,200 under a 5% note. Next Level, his company, says it intends to buy about $500,000 of the offering.

None of that shows Borget put nothing in. Buyers of the revenue interests aren't named in a filing like this. TSB Gaming's own shareholders aren't listed in it either. What the filing settles is scope. If you read the campaign as both founders backing the film with cash, the filing documents only Madrid's.

On paper Madrid's company controls the film and The Sandbox's company holds a minority.

The security on offer is a Revenue Participation Interest at $1.00 each, with no voting rights. Investors are eligible to recoup 120% of what they paid from the film's adjusted gross proceeds, alongside Madrid's note, before any profit split. The amendment cut the maximum raise from $5 million to $1 million, against a $75,000 target and a deadline of 31 December 2026.

The perks borrow from The Sandbox's playbook. Up to 871 investors receive a "Villa" from the 3,000-piece NFT collection TSB Gaming assigned to the film, and the filing says a Villa carries no revenue rights. Pairing a story world with collectibles is also the approach behind Cross The Ages, a web3 fantasy epic built on a literary universe.

Even a full raise leaves a gap. The filing puts the production budget at "approximately $2.5 million" and says a maximum raise "would be approximately $1.5 million less than the anticipated production budget," so the $1 million cap covers 40% of the budget.

In mid-October 2026 Republic's page showed about $225,900 committed by 34 investors, which is 22.59% of the $1 million maximum and 3.01 times the $75,000 target. That total moves daily, and it comes to 9.04% of the $2.5 million budget.

Method: every officer, owner and term comes from the Form C and its amendment on the SEC's EDGAR system, and the raised total comes from Republic's campaign page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is The Sandbox crypto?

The Sandbox is a blockchain game world where players own LAND and other in-game assets, and SAND is its token. It grew out of Pixowl's 2012 mobile game, and Animoca Brands agreed to buy Pixowl in August 2018.

Is The Sandbox crypto dead?

SAND kept trading through mid-October 2026 on the Phemex perpetual listed again in early October 2026, while the spot pair sits on an October 2026 delisting notice. In September 2025 the SANDChain Foundation announced SANDchain with SAND as its gas token.

What is SAND used for?

SAND is The Sandbox's token, and the SANDChain Foundation's September 2025 release says it is used for gas and governance on SANDchain. The release ties that role to creator tools such as loyalty points and creator tokens on the chain.

Is Sebastien Borget the CEO of The Sandbox?

No. Borget is a co-founder whose recorded titles are COO in March 2020 and SANDchain global ambassador in September 2025. Arthur Madrid was CEO until August 2025 according to an SEC filing, and a September 2025 release quoted Robby Yung as CEO.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.