Worldcoin and 1Kosmos face more competition as Animoca Brands launches Moca ID

Yat Siu, the founder of Animoca Brands, recently opened up about his plans with Moca ID, the blockchain solution under their Mocaverse project.

According to Yat, Moca ID wants to revolutionize the Web3 industry by integrating network effects across multiple ecosystems. He said that Moca ID and the MOCA token were designed to become symbols of cultural capital.

This will start with a proof-of-loyalty mechanism that assesses the value users bring to the network. Mocaverse wants to create a foundation for the Animoca Brands ecosystem.

Source: Mocaverse

Through Moca ID and its reputation system, they plan to attract the most loyal and engaged users, builders, developers, and entrepreneurs. Users can claim a Moca NFT and then use it to claim a Moca ID. 

Yat said:

“Mocaverse begins as an expression of the Animoca network effect and will expand beyond our ecosystem into the shared network that is web3. Our goal is to establish a network that rewards user loyalty and engagement.”

Unlike Web2, where users are often locked into platforms, Web3 offers more flexibility, making user retention a bigger challenge. Investing in cultural capital can enhance network stickiness.

While Animoca Brands is pushing forward with Moca ID, know that there is a lot of competition in the blockchain identity space. Animoca is not the first to do it, and Moca ID can’t be determined as the best.

The biggest competitor is likely Worldcoin’s World ID. World ID is a digital identity system using iris biometrics to verify unique human identities. Built on the blockchain World Chain, it prioritizes transactions from verified human users. 

Users receive a World ID after verification, which can be used for many online interactions. Worldcoin claims to protect user privacy with advanced cryptographic techniques and offers verified users a small amount of free gas each month on the World Chain.

It recently launched World ID 2.0, which introduced Apps, saying it is “a new way to build and use integrations to verify online accounts using World ID.”

Then we have 1Kosmos, which claims that its BlockID offers passwordless authentication, using biometrics and security keys. It supports various platforms and wants to “modernize multi-factor authentication (MFA).”

Its identity verification process uses government-issued IDs and biometrics, providing a seamless user experience. Still though, its reliance on biometrics causes privacy concerns for some people.

Another contender is Fractal ID. Fractal says it is focused on integrating with the idOS network to issue verified credentials for DeFi users. This chain-agnostic approach reportedly improves interoperability and simplifies KYC processes.

Despite its strengths, Fractal ID lacks detailed information on specific features and user experience, which might have stalled its adoption.

Tokens are often seen as mere fundraising tools or virtual currencies, but Yat argues they represent a new form of asset ownership because they provide a stake in the network effect, which is the increased value a network gains with each additional user. 

This has always been important for companies like Facebook and Google, and is now being applied to Web3 networks. According to Yat, Metcalfe’s Law explains this by stating that a network’s value is proportional to the square of its users. 

But, for Web3, Reed’s Law is more relevant since it considers the exponential value through sub-groups within the network. This new form of participation in Web3 emphasizes true ownership and the ability to influence the network’s direction and value. Yat said he launched the MOCA coin with this in mind. 

Source: Animoca Brands

MOCA was launched at the end of May. But it was officially listed on exchanges and aggregators only four days ago right when the market was going through intense correction caused by Germany’s rampant sell-offs. 

But it showed resilience and quickly surged to the all-time high of $0.1295. At press time, it was worth $0.126. Its weekly gains are at 22.45%, though its trading volume is down by over 26%.

Right now, 14% of the total 8.9 billion MOCA tokens are in circulation. Community allocations were made through two main channels.

Ownership of the 8,888 Mocaverse NFTs minted for free in March 2023 and Realm Points earned by Moca ID account holders through social farming and partner missions.

In Cryptopolitan’s recent interview with Yat , he emphasized how important ownership is to him and Animoca Brands. He told us:

“Imagine if the world we live in today, the physical world, did not have property rights.  You could not own your house, you can’t own your car, you can only rent it, right?  You can’t invest in it because you could lose it. Now if the whole world was renting, the real estate market would not be a market at all.  It became a market because we could own a house.”

Not all networks are equal, and Yat agrees that neither Metcalfe’s nor Reed’s Law perfectly models every network. Large networks with more users don’t always have greater value. The quality and contribution of users is also needed. 

Source: Yat Siu

For instance, Yat said, Hong Kong, with a population of about 7.5 million and a GDP of $407 billion, has a much higher value than North Korea, which has a larger population but a GDP of only $48.3 billion.

In Web3, networks with lower potential attract less investment and fewer active participants. But the most important factor in a web3 network, according to the Animoca Brands founder, is “stickiness” — the ability to retain users in an open and permissionless environment. 

How blockchain identity solutions work

Blockchain identity solutions are all about using distributed ledger technology to manage digital identities securely and decentrally. When someone wants to create a digital identity on a blockchain, they start by downloading a digital identity wallet app. 

They then generate two cryptographic keys: a public key and a private key. The public key is like their username on the blockchain, while the private key is kept secret and used to sign transactions and prove ownership of their identity.

Next, the system generates a Decentralized Identifier (DID) for the user. This DID gets registered along with the public key and the setup creates a tamper-proof record of the user’s identity that anyone anywhere can verify.

Users can then get verifiable credentials from the issuers. These credentials are cryptographically signed and linked to the user’s DID. Instead of storing personal data on the blockchain, the actual information is kept off-chain in a secure, encrypted format. 

The blockchain only holds cryptographic proofs (hashes) of this data, prioritizing security and privacy, which is the technology’s whole thing. 

Many blockchain identity solutions, including World ID and Fractal ID, follow open standards like those set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), making sure they can work across different systems and platforms.

Reporting by Jai Hamid