Blockchain ID project Humanity Protocol hits unicorn status with $30M raise

As an analyst with extensive experience in the blockchain and decentralized identity market, I am excited about Humanity Protocol’s recent $30 million raise, which has catapulted the company to a $1 billion valuation. This is a significant milestone for any startup, let alone one focused on a potentially game-changing technology like decentralized identity.

The decentralized identity project, Humanity Protocol, has achieved “unicorn” status following a successful $30 million fundraising round, which elevated its valuation to an impressive $1 billion.

In a Medium post dated May 15, Humanity Protocol announced that Kingsway Capital spearheaded their $30 million Seed Round investment, joined by Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, Hashed, Shima Capital, and over twenty other investors.

Humanity Protocol intends to allocate the funds towards growing its product development team in anticipation of the upcoming public testnet debut, scheduled for the second half of 2024.

This project uses palm scanning for identification and ensures secure digital identity storage on a blockchain through the implementation of zero-knowledge technology and “proof-of-humanity,” a mechanism that verifies users as authentic humans and not artificial intelligence.

According to Humanity Protocol, using palm scanning instead of iris scanning, as practiced by their competitor Worldcoin, is expected to be perceived as a more private and less intrusive option by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

In spite of the contentious method it uses, which has led to its ban in various countries due to privacy issues, Worldcoin has managed to attract a user base of 10 million people.

Approximately 500,000 individuals have joined Humanity Protocol’s waiting list since the project came out of stealth mode a month ago.

Terence Kwok launched the Humanity Protocol through the Human Institute in February 2023.

I served as the recipient of valuable support from Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, and Polygon Labs during the development process of Humanity Protocol’s testnet in February this year.

I, as an analyst, firmly believe that while decentralized ID solutions offer significant power and benefits, it’s essential to prevent them from becoming overly intrusive, complex, or burdensome during user onboarding.

As a crypto investor interested in the blockchain-based identity sector, I’m excited about the growing competition in this space as data security becomes more crucial in our AI-driven world. With the alarming rise of data breaches, the demand for secure and decentralized identity solutions is stronger than ever. This competition will undoubtedly drive innovation and push the industry forward.

As a researcher studying IT security trends, I’ve discovered that approximately 8.2 billion documents were compromised across 2,814 reported incidents in the year 2023.

Kwok’s company asserts that user data will be kept in a “decentralized system” where users retain full ownership.

2024-05-16 07:30

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