Kelly Leung is helping to build a world where people genuinely want to help each other. On a mission to empower and uplift society, this Hongkonger is focusing on women as the leaders of the next digital revolution.
“I like to see great ideas come to life,” Kelly sums up her motivations. She strives to deliver digital property rights to the world, creating a new asset class, play-to-earn economies, and an equitable, Open Metaverse that benefits everyone.
As Chief International Business Development Officer of Animoca Brands Japan and Co-Founder at MADworld, Kelly oversees an investment fund, IP development and serves as a venture builder. MADworld is an NFT platform and marketplace using blockchain technology to secure the rights of artists, artworks, and content. In this organization, she and her teams oversee the blockchain technology advisory arm that helps global brands and IP owners optimize and accelerate their web3 strategy. Kelly drives the research and deployment of strategies and projects, from ideation to designing NFT utilities, coding smart contracts, and more.
She supports the ethos of connectedness, culture, and community through web3 in order to create unique digital experiences for fans, investors, and collectors.
At Animoca Brands Japan (KK), she serves as Chief International Business Development Officer and as a Member of the Board of Directors. Here she supports the growth of digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that works to advance the Open Metaverse focused on enabling IP holders in Japan to participate in the web3 ecosystem meaningfully. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 380 investments in NFT-related companies and decentralized blockchain projects contributing to building the Open Metaverse, including Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others.
According to Kelly, the Metaverse is a “decentralized world where everyone has true digital ownership of their digital assets. It provides a platform for data monetization that individuals and consumers can directly control.”
Kelly believes the Metaverse will impact many millions of people’s lives, the world, and the future of technology. One of the foundations of web3 is taking back data ownership and the control of original content. For women, this will level the playing field like never before in the history of technology.
“The Metaverse provides a platform for unsung heroes and creators,” says Kelly. “The concept of ownership and control of original content will be redefined in the future. The technology makes it easier for people to engage and interact. Content creation, monetization, and distribution will see new frontiers as we maximize exposure of web2 outlets through web3 values and platforms.”
While web3 and the Metaverse are still in their infancy, Kelly is adamant that the technology’s and the space’s evolution is real and ongoing – and will be for some time to come. She says: “Lots of new applications were created and have fallen away already, but advances are being reached daily. There are incredible investments being made into the infrastructural layers to make web3 and the Metaverse possible for everyone.”
The impact of the Metaverse will extend beyond those concepts to rewriting the futures of education and entertainment, areas which Kelly believes have the highest potential to drive widespread social change. “In the future, education and entertainment will be extremely interesting through the advent of web3 and the emergence of interoperable Metaverses. Also, consumers’ perception of space and reality will be shifted as one can take on any identity, even one that doesn’t represent the traditional human form.”
After being involved in the technology, media and entertainment, and telecommunications (TMT) field for more than 20 years, Kelly has been at the forefront of technology’s evolution, creating incredible business opportunities across industries and the world. She discovered the potential of blockchain in 2017 when invited to join the Animoca Brands’ Blockchain Advisory, with the mission of introducing brands to blockchain applications. She immediately recognized the potential power of blockchain and its tools to change women’s rights in the real world through this emerging technology.
The most significant barriers to mass adoption of web3 and the Metaverse by individuals and businesses are two-fold: trust and education. Kelly says that mass adoption is possible when trust in the space is established, and people understand and comprehend how the technology can benefit society and serve as a force for good in the real world. In addressing how to build trust, Kelly believes that education will help people to avoid falling prey to scams and other negative aspects of cryptocurrencies. “There continue to be too many groups that do not understand the technology and rush into the space because they are afraid they will miss out; the lack of true understanding of a technology – or even how to apply the right strategy to execute something well – will always be the biggest obstacle to mass adoption.”
Asking Kelly what she’s most excited about for the future with web3 and the Metaverse, Kelly says she is inspired by “how we can use high resolution, immersive digital experiences to transform into a healing experience for people, where artwork and therapeutic content can reduce and alleviate people’s stress levels and increase dopamine levels. In the future, we will have that control and power – within ourselves and through this technology.”
KELLY LEUNG’S METAVERSE & WEB3 TIPS:
Websites: animocabrands.co.jp | madworld.io
