World rival Humanity started a foundation to promote digital identity
Humanity Protocol, the world's leading competitor to the digital identity project, is approaching its Token Generation Event (TGE) by establishing the Humanity Foundation.
On January 14, the Humanity Foundation, led by founding directors including Animoka Brands Chairman Yat Siu, was launched to serve as a key driver in the Humanity Protocol ecosystem, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.
Humanity Protocol focuses on providing Decentralized Identity (DID) and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK-proofs), which allow users to verify their unique identity without exposing private information including Humanity Protocol to anyone.
Using biometric technology, Humanity Protocol allows users to customize their verified identity with additional verifications such as education, work history, and social reputation.
Biometrics are not stored on any centralized server.
In addition to Animoka Siu, Humanity Foundation's founding directors Mario Naufal, founder of International Blockchain Consulting, and Yewei Chong, an investment expert from Morgan Stanley and Ortus Capital, will serve as the foundation's interim CEO.
“Biometrics provide a convenient starting point for building a secure decentralized identity system,” Chong said, noting that proof-of-human (PoH) integration in biometric authentication enables the integration of various human attributes into a single privacy-first identity framework. .
According to Terence Kwok, founder of Humanity Protocol, Humanity technology allows individuals to take full ownership and control of their data.
“Humanity ensures that identity proofs like biometrics are not stored on any centralized server,” Kwok told Cointelegraph.
Instead, Kwok announced that this biometric data will be encrypted and enabled in Humanity's zkProofers or distributed nodes in the second phase of TestNet's release.
Humanity vs. World: How Do They Differ?
The Humanity Protocol, launched in 2024, has introduced palm recognition technology to authenticate individuals in Web3 with a focus on protecting data privacy.
Following the foundation's launch, Humanity is yet to announce the date of the token generation event, Kwok said.
Humanitarian Protocol Roadmap. Source: Humanity.org
Humanity's key competitor, World (formerly WorldCoin), was launched in July 2023 by Tools for Humanity, a software company founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Unlike the human palm recognition technology, the world implements iris biometric technology that uses mathematical pattern recognition techniques on video images of the irises of one or both eyes.
Related: World Announces 10M Verified Users on World Wide Web
According to Humanity's Kwok, the main difference between World and Humanity is that the latter uses a palm scan rather than an iris scan.
Compared to iris scanning, palm recognition technology offers stronger privacy protections and is “less invasive while ensuring security,” Kwok said.
“Like iris scans, which can feel intrusive and raise additional privacy concerns, palm scans are user-friendly while maintaining a high level of security. Users are more familiar with biometric authentication, which involves their hand and fingerprint rather than an iris code.
Responding to user preferences and accessibility in such a way means PoH can be deployed at scale for organizations looking to include palm-scanning payments, building and accessibility, and other real-world applications, Kwok noted.
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