Animoca Brands, metaverse platforms launch interoperability DAO

A collection of metaverse platforms teamed up to launch the metaverse interoperability DAO, dubbed the Open Metaverse Alliance for web3 (OMA3), the group announced on Thursday.

The majority of members have links to Hong Kong-based game software and venture capital firm Animoca Brands. OMA3 includes Animoca Brands itself, The Sandbox, which is one of its subsidiaries, and several brands the company has invested in — Alien Worlds, Dapper Labs, Splinterlands, Star Atlas and Upland. 

It also includes Decentraland, with which Animoca has collaborated on projects, Cryptovoxels, Meta Metaverse, SPACE, Superworld and Wivity. 

“The standards we create are guided by the goals of true ownership and real-time interoperability. We will build infrastructure to ensure the metaverse operates as a unified system where digital assets (such as NFTs), identities, and data are permissionless and interoperable for all and controlled by users, not platforms. Users will immutably own these assets and transfer them to any OMA3 virtual worlds freely, without needing the platform’s permission,” said OMA3 in a statement.

OMA3 has invited all blockchain-based metaverse companies to join the DAO. Details about governance and how voting power will be allocated have not yet been revealed.

‍The announcement did cause some confusion, however. It comes a month after the launch of the big tech-heavy Metaverse Standards Forum, backed by the Khronos Group. Armed with similar ideals around interoperability, The Block noted at the time that top metaverse platforms were absent from their membership roster.

However, the Metaverse Standards Forum told The Block that it had already met with OMA3 and that the latter is planning to join the forum once it is incorporated.