Blockchain identity project Humanity Protocol has raised $30M in unicorn status.
Decentralized identity solution Humanity Protocol is officially a unicorn after raising its valuation to $1 billion after recently raising $30 million.
The $30 million seed round was led by Kingsway Capital, with participation from Animoka Brands, Blockchain.com, Hashid, Shima Capital and 20 other investors, according to Humanity Protocol on May 15.
Humanity Protocol plans to use the funds to expand its product development division as the company prepares for a public testnet launch in the second half of 2024.
The project scans the user's palm and claims to verify their digital identity on the blockchain by combining zero-knowledge technology and “human authentication” — a consensus mechanism used to prove the user is a human and not an AI bot.
Humanity Protocol hopes that palm scanning will be seen by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a less invasive alternative to competitor WorldCoin.
WorldCoin has already amassed 10 million users despite its controversial approach, which has seen it banned in many countries over privacy concerns.
The Humanitarian Protocol's waiting list, on the other hand, has registered more than half a million people since it was hacked a month ago.
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Terence Kwok launched the Humane Protocol through the Humane Institute in February 2023.
Kwok is getting help from Animoka Brands founder Yat Siu and Polygon Labs, who helped build the Humanity Protocol testnet in February this year.
As powerful as a decentralized identity solution is, Siu says it's especially important to ensure users aren't “too invasive, complicated or difficult” to sign up during the onboarding process.
Competition in the blockchain-based identity market continues to intensify as data breaches continue to rise in an increasingly AI-driven world.
According to IT management data, 8.2 billion documents were breached in 2023 from 2,814 reported incidents.
Kwok's firm says user data is stored in a “decentralized way” that is not handled by anyone but the user.
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