Ace Shim | CEO
Hopae, Inc.

Ace Shim is transforming how the world verifies identity. His mission was forged from personal experience—navigating life as an international student in the U.S., where broken identity systems created constant barriers. Today, he's turning that frustration into innovation. As founder and CEO of Hopae, Ace recently secured $6.5M to pioneer privacy-preserving digital identity solutions. His track record speaks volumes: he previously founded COOV, South Korea's official COVID-19 vaccination wallet, scaling it to 43M daily active users and establishing unprecedented interoperability with the EU and Singapore. Before entrepreneurship, he shaped blockchain identity systems at LG, laying the groundwork for his future ventures. With Hopae, Ace is building the future of identity verification—one where proving who you are is instant, secure, and accessible to everyone. In a world where identity systems frustrate millions and fraud grows more sophisticated, Hopae's mission has never been more critical.