Animoca Brands Launches DAO to Develop Metaverse Standards

An alliance of Web3 companies has come together to build an open and borderless metaverse called OMA3, or the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3. The group says it aims to solve key challenges of the nascent metaverse, including preserving the freedom of information owned by users.

Projects joining the alliance with Animoca Brands include Alien Worlds, Dapper Labs, Decentraland, Star Atlas, and The Sandbox. In addition to Web3 projects already linked to Animoca, the alliance includes DAO framework developer Wivity, virtual reality and game developer Space, and blockchain gaming company Upland.

The announcement of the new blockchain-based organization comes on the heels of the announcement of another metaverse “alliance” known as the Metaverse Standards Forum. Founding members of that group include Microsoft, Meta (formerly Facebook), Alibaba, and Sony—companies not known for letting users keep, much less transfer, their data freely between applications.

OMA3 aims to take a different approach.

“We believe in a metaverse without restraining walls, where individual platforms are interconnected and fully interoperable,” OMA3 said in a blog post.

The group says it is inviting all blockchain-based metaverse companies to join the alliance.

According to OMA3, this new decentralized autonomous organization, better known as a DAO, will operate as a consortium, guided by inclusivity, transparency, and Web3 principles.

A DAO is essentially an online community that uses Web3 tools to organize and spread control among its members. DAOs often use a cryptocurrency or token to incentivize their members and govern decision-making.

“The standards we create are guided by the goals of true ownership and real-time interoperability,” the group says.

OMA3 says it will build the alliance’s infrastructure to ensure the metaverse operates as a unified system where digital assets, identities, and data are permissionless and controlled by users, not platforms.

The group also asserts that users will own their assets and will be able to freely transfer them to any OMA3 world without the individual platform’s permission.

Animoca Brands is a digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification firm that created the SAND and REVV tokens and publishes popular games like The Sandbox and Crazy Kings. It also touts investments in Web3 giants OpenSea, Axie Infinity, Dapper Labs, Star Atlas, and Alien Worlds.

Earlier this month, the company announced raising $75 million towards its vision of an open metaverse with investments from Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Alpha Wave Ventures, and others.

“Digital property rights represent a society-defining generational shift that impacts everyone online and will set the stage for the emergence of the open metaverse,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, said in a statement. “We are deeply honored to continue to enjoy strong support from investors as we work to solidify the leadership position of Animoca Brands in the Web3 industry and in the field of true digital ownership.”