Animoca Brands is pushing for new ownership models for agentic AI, a move the company says could reshape how economic structures and data control work. The Hong Kong-based gaming and blockchain firm outlined its thinking at WebX Asia, the region's flagship Web3 conference, where the conversation around autonomous AI agents is heating up.
What the company is proposing
At WebX Asia, Animoca Brands executives described a framework that would give users and developers clearer rights over AI agents that act on their behalf. The idea is to treat these agents not just as tools but as entities that can own assets, enter contracts, and generate value — and to define who gets what when they do. The company argues that without such frameworks, the rise of agentic AI could concentrate power and data in the hands of a few platform operators.
Animoca Brands didn't release a detailed proposal or a timeline. Instead, the presentation served as a call for the industry to start building standards before the technology outpaces the rules. The company has a track record of pushing for digital property rights through its work in blockchain gaming and the metaverse, and it sees agentic AI as the next frontier.
Why ownership matters for agentic AI
Agentic AI refers to systems that can act independently — making decisions, executing tasks, and interacting with other agents or humans. As these systems become more capable, questions about ownership and liability grow. If an AI agent buys a digital asset or signs a smart contract, who owns the result? The user who set it up? The developer who coded it? The AI itself?
Animoca Brands is betting that the answer will involve decentralized ownership, where users retain control over their agents and the data they generate. That's a direct challenge to the centralized model used by most AI companies today, where the platform often claims broad rights over user inputs and outputs. The company's proposal would likely rely on blockchain-based identity and asset registries to track and enforce those rights.
The context at WebX Asia
WebX Asia, held in Tokyo, has become a key venue for discussions about the intersection of Web3 and AI. This year's event drew developers, investors, and policymakers from across the region. Animoca Brands' talk was part of a broader track on autonomous agents, which also covered topics like agent-to-agent economies and decentralized AI training.
The company's push comes as regulators in Japan and elsewhere start to grapple with AI governance. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has been consulting on AI liability, while the European Union's AI Act is set to impose new rules on high-risk systems. Animoca Brands is positioning its framework as a way to give users a stake in the AI economy before those rules lock in a less flexible model.
No other companies at WebX Asia publicly endorsed the proposal during the event. But several panelists noted that the industry needs to move fast. The question now is whether Animoca Brands can rally enough support to turn its concept into a working standard — and whether regulators will let it.
