Humanity Protocol Secures $30M Funding to Challenge Worldcoin with Decentralized ID Solutions, Reaching $1B Valuation

By Lars Weer Last updated May 15, 2024

Humanity Protocol, a cutting-edge project leveraging palm scans for identity verification, successfully raised $30 million and achieved a valuation of $1 billion.
The influx of funds will be utilized to cover hiring and development expenses, with a public testnet anticipated for the latter half of the year.

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Humanity Protocol, a decentralized identity initiative employing zero-knowledge technology and palm scans, has announced a valuation of $1 billion following a seed funding round spearheaded by Kingsway Capital.

The $30 million funding round, succeeding an earlier $1.5 million investment from a mix of angel investors and influential leaders, witnessed participation from Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, and Hashed, as per a Medium post by the team.

Employing a novel method called Proof of Humanity, the protocol uses palm scans to verify user identities within a decentralized system. This approach mirrors that of Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, which launched last July with an iris-scanning tool and garnered attention from privacy regulators in France, the UK, and Kenya.

“Proof-of-Personhood is a highly potent concept, yet current solutions have struggled with adoption due to their invasive and high-friction onboarding processes,” stated founder Terence Kwok in the Medium post. “Our goal is to develop a decentralized identity protocol that ensures verifiable uniqueness and human identity while safeguarding user privacy and enabling self-ownership of data.”

The Humanity Protocol team intends to allocate the newly acquired funds towards hiring and product development, with the aim of launching a public testnet in the second half of the year.

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