Humanity Protocol raises $30 million as blockchain-based digital identity startup reaches Unicorn status

Humanity Protocol, a decentralized identity solution, has raised $30 million (approx. Rs. 250 crore) in a fresh round of funding led by Kingsway Capital, and the startup has reached unicorn status, with its valuation crossing the $1 billion mark (approx. Rs. 8,350 crore rupees). . Over 20 other venture capital firms participated in the seed funding round, including Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, Hashed and Shima Capital. The startup competes with Worldcoin, a rival service that has faced legal challenges in several regions.

Decentralized Identity (DID) solutions aim to authenticate users and entities without a central authority. To record the uniqueness of each individual, Humanity Protocol collects individuals’ palm scans. These scans are stored on the blockchain and a proof of humanity is issued, confirming that the holder of that identity is indeed a human and not a bot.

“Proof of identity is a powerful concept, but the solutions that exist today have not been adopted because the inclusion is invasive and highly frictional,” writes Terence Kwok, founder of Humanity Protocol in blog post. “The world needs a truly self-contained identity framework that is built on the core principles of inclusivity, privacy and decentralization.”

Humanity Protocol’s Proof of Humanity (PoH) consensus mechanism aims to reduce the risks of identity fraud and Sybil attacks. This brings a level of trust and credibility to human individuals within real-world decentralized networks.

Explaining why proof of identity is a promising concept, Kwok’s post on Medium said, “PoH allows users to perform various transactions, such as asserting their ownership of real-world assets, accessing limited services, or proving their education and work history. without having to disclose their personal information to third parties.”

The blockchain ID project also claims that the implementation of PoH can make activities such as the distribution of universal basic income fairer, since these transactions involve real human beings.

In recent times, however, these controversial decentralized identity projects have drawn criticism and concerns from several governments around the world.

One such project is Worldcoin, founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Using the scans of people’s irises, Altman plans to generate a unique global identification of individuals that will eliminate the need for them to present their identification numbers such as names or email IDs to interact with computers and machines, while ensuring that the holder of that id is real human. The project is seen as intrusive and currently faces legal hurdles in countries such as Nairobi and Italy.