September 30, 2025
By Tsering Namgyal
Moca Network, seeded by Hong Kong Web3 giant Animoca Brands, sees tremendous opportunities in digital property rights. Its foray into this arcane field was triggered by Apple’s decision to delist Animoca Brands’ games from its app store in 2017 and 2018.
“As we all know, in gaming, once you get removed from a store, you basically lose everything,” Kenneth Shek, Project Lead at Moca Network and Head of Projects at Animoca Brands, told Blockwind News in an exclusive interview.
After its success in blockchain gaming through ventures like Sandbox, Axie Infinity, and NBA Top Shot, Animoca has expanded beyond gaming into other industries and regions. To that end, it has launched its own Moca token.
“Basically, the mission is ownership … so there’s a lot of investment and development in Real World Asset (RWA) infrastructure and other verticals,” Shek said.
Animoca Brands has also formed a joint venture with Standard Chartered to issue a stablecoin in Hong Kong, which is expected to play a central role in its digital ownership ecosystem.
With nearly 400 portfolio companies, Animoca is allocating US$20 million worth of portfolio tokens to incentivize those who support the Moca token.
“There will be a lot more later, but it’s already a strong statement to the market about what Moca token and the Moca Network are about,” Shek said.
The network itself is a digital identity chain featuring decentralized data storage, on-chain verification, and zero-knowledge proof generation. It is chain-agnostic, allowing data and identity verification across multiple blockchains.
“It is basically very modular as identity infrastructure for apps on different chains. Digital identity is increasingly important as more tokenized assets, stablecoins, money market funds, and other digital assets come on-chain—or even off-chain,” Shek explained.
The goal is to bring Web2 companies with no Web3 capabilities into the digital currency ecosystem.
“We work with a lot of Web2 enterprises, companies, and brands to bring digital identity to their consumer apps,” he said.
The first step in digital identity work is identification, followed by making data interoperable.
“The ethos of blockchain is interoperability and financialization of assets and content. What’s interesting with digital identity infrastructure is that you can finally make data interoperable across all the apps we work with,” Shek noted.
Beyond its portfolio companies, Moca Network is also collaborating with external partners. Currently, it is working with SK Telecom, South Korea’s largest telecom provider, to integrate its digital identity system.
“Our distribution strategy is not to build a new killer app to acquire 100 million users. Instead, we have a federated distribution strategy—embedding our product into existing apps so that users onboard directly through them. At the same time, all identities and data remain interoperable,” he said.
The aim is to enable apps to cross-verify users without depending on big data brokers such as Google, Meta, and Apple.
“With our product, you can remove that middleman and allow apps and users to be interoperable through privacy-preserved data,” Shek said.
“If you think about digital assets, the most valuable one is data. Yet, data still lacks true ownership and interoperability. That’s what we’re solving.”
By returning digital rights to consumers and ensuring interoperability across apps, Moca Network aligns with its founding mission. What was once thought impossible, Shek says, is now achievable through digital identity.
Monetization comes through data verification. For example, SK Telecom, which serves half of South Korea’s population, can issue data back to its users, who then set their own prices. Moca Network takes a cut for redistributing that data into the ecosystem. If Burger King, for instance, wants to verify SK Telecom’s spending data, it would pay in stablecoins on-chain.
Shek clarified that their interoperability approach differs from traditional bridges, focusing on identity and data rather than just asset transfer, ensuring user and liquidity flow across applications.
Moca Network expects its user base to grow from two to three million to over 100 million within a few years. This growth would come from partnerships with companies like SK Telecom, with 23 million subscribers, and OneFootball, with nearly 200 million users.
Its immediate priorities include rapidly onboarding partners, refining the product with feedback, and targeting high-potential sub-networks like football, music, gaming, and healthcare.
Beyond data verification, stablecoins will also be used to tokenize loyalty points for flights, hotels, and rebates. “It’s really like consumer infrastructure that goes hand in hand with stablecoins,” Shek said. The company is working not only with Hong Kong dollar–backed stablecoins but also with other currencies.
To streamline onboarding, users can now complete KYC by scanning passports as proof of identity before using stablecoins.
Hong Kong, along with the U.S., is at the forefront of stablecoin development. “Hong Kong’s stablecoin ordinance and the GENIUS Act in the U.S. are creating an environment conducive for stablecoins,” Shek said.
He added that the UAE is also a promising market: “The regulators there are very forward-thinking and open-minded. The fintech and consumer app environment in the UAE is strong.” Moca Network has established an office in the UAE with nearly 10 staff and is collaborating with local companies and regulators.
The company is also optimistic about South Korea and Turkey, both of which have high crypto adoption rates.
“Obviously, Turkey requires more regulatory clarity, but we’re very bullish—very positive—that they will figure it out soon,” Shek concluded.
About the author
Tsering Namgyal is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Blockwind.news.
