Kenneth Shek is the Project Lead of Moca Network and Head of Projects at Animoca Brands, a $6 billion blockchain company. Over the past 15 years, Kenneth has co-founded and operated a diverse range of startups, spanning from renewable energy and cross-border e-commerce to artificial intelligence. However, it was his unwavering passion for promoting mass adoption of cutting-edge technologies that propelled him into a leadership role, advocating for AI and Web3 integration for Fortune 500 companies.
Kenneth’s obsession with technology has consistently fueled his professional pursuits. His whole career has been about venture building and technology, and eventually discovering the industry to which he would dedicate his talents: the captivating world of Web3.
What led you, as Head of Projects at Animoca Brands, to make identity the next major pillar with Moca Network?
At Animoca Brands, we’ve seen blockchains proliferate, but true interoperability is still limited. No matter the chain or app, everything starts with the same foundation: your account, your identity, your data. Yet today that data is not interoperable. We saw that ecosystems can only scale if data is shared privately across applications. That insight led to Moca Network and Moca Chain, an identity-first Layer 1 built as Web3’s connective layer.
With our reach and enterprise network, we can seed this ecosystem with millions of users and leading applications. As stablecoins and real-world assets move on-chain, the need for trusted identity infrastructure is only growing.
Animoca is known as a gaming and metaverse powerhouse. How does Moca’s identity infrastructure advance its thesis of digital property rights and the open metaverse?
Animoca Brands is often linked to gaming and the metaverse through our roots in mobile gaming and early bets like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox. But our portfolio also spans real-world assets and stablecoins, including a joint venture with SCB to issue the HKD stablecoin. Across all of these, digital identity is the common thread.
It all comes back to identity and how users connect, interact, and prove ownership. Moca Network builds on our thesis of digital property rights: data is the most valuable digital asset, and users should own it. By enabling user-owned identity, we reinforce the foundation of the open metaverse and give individuals control over their digital presence.
Can you walk us through how zkProofs and zkTLS work in tandem within the AIR Kit to enable privacy-preserving identity in both Web2 and Web3 environments?
TLS lets users securely capture private data from any website, while zero-knowledge proofs make that data usable without exposing it. ZKPs allow users to prove facts such as age, residency, or account status without revealing the underlying information. Once data is captured through TLS, it can be reused to generate multiple proofs for different verifiers.
TLS can onboard Web2 data, but it cannot scale without zero-knowledge proofs. Together, zkTLS gives users control, privacy, and interoperability across both Web2 and Web3.
Why opt for a dedicated L1 instead of building layers on top of existing chains?
Animoca Brands has always been chain-agnostic, and Moca follows the same principle. Our mission is not to favour one chain, but to enable identity verification across all chains while keeping data interoperable and neutral. Past identity projects tied themselves too closely to a single chain, which limited adoption.
This is why we built a dedicated Layer 1. Moca Chain offers instant finality so verifications happen quickly and reliably. It also gives us flexibility to manage identity data in ways that meet jurisdictional and regulatory requirements, something generic chains cannot accommodate. A dedicated L1 keeps us neutral, scalable, and purpose-built for identity.
You recently launched MocaPortfolio to give holders access to Animoca’s tokens. What role will it play in growing the Network?
MocaPortfolio reflects the ethos of $MOCA, capturing and sharing value from Animoca Brands’ ecosystem and its growth through Moca Network. Holding $MOCA is more than being a token holder; it is ownership in the network. MocaPortfolio gives direct exposure to Animoca’s tokens, while Moca Chain and AIR Kit provide ownership in the identity layer that compounds value as the ecosystem grows.
The math is simple: the larger the ecosystem, the greater the value created in both MocaPortfolio and the identity network. Holding $MOCA lets you participate in both
What steps will MocaPortfolio take to help users understand vesting, risk, and portfolio dynamics while building financial literacy and long-term value?
Animoca Brands has always taken a strategic approach to building its portfolio, and MocaPortfolio lets the community experience that process firsthand. By staking $MOCA and burning Staking Power to register for specific tokens, users take part in a Fantasy Football–style system where they actively shape their allocations.
This not only gives exposure to Animoca’s portfolio but also encourages users to think like portfolio managers, balancing choices, understanding vesting schedules, and weighing risks. In the end, holders gain real agency over how they allocate and maximise the value of their staked $MOCA.
With $20m earmarked for MocaPortfolio, how will you ensure it remains sustainable and delivers long-term value?
The $20 million allocated to MocaPortfolio is built for sustainability and long-term value. It directly supports portfolio companies by expanding token distribution, which strengthens the projects themselves. At the same time, growing $MOCA adoption reinforces Animoca Brands’ ecosystem through digital identity. This dual effect of supporting portfolio growth while expanding the identity network creates lasting value for both $MOCA holders and the wider ecosystem.
How are you thinking about interoperability between Moca Chain and other Animoca-backed ecosystems?
Interoperability is central to Moca Chain. Through the Identity Oracle, verifications on Moca can be extended to other chains, ensuring identity is never locked into a single ecosystem. Both Moca Chain and AIR Kit are modular, allowing any wallet on any chain to be used for verification. This keeps identity interoperable, neutral, and usable across Animoca-backed ecosystems and beyond.
What’s your outlook for verifiable ID in the next few years?
In the short term, we expect stablecoins, tokenised assets, and regulation to drive demand for on-chain verifiable identity. In the mid to long term, most identity verifications will move on-chain, with big tech adoption following. Apple and Google Wallets exploring zero-knowledge proofs is a strong signal of this shift. Verifiable identity is becoming a foundational layer for both Web3 and Web2.