The decentralized identity platform Humanity Protocol has raised $20 million through a venture capital round to compete with the World Network in the race to drive on-chain identification solutions.
Humanity's funding round was supported by venture capital firms Pantera Capital and Jump Crypto, with a fully diluted valuation of $1.1 billion. The funds will be used to further develop the Proof of Humanity protocol, linking users' palm prints to their digital identities on Web3 platforms.
This capital will also support the launch of the protocol's undisclosed mainnet.
According to the Humanity Protocol website, the platform is planning a Token Airdrop together with the OKX Wallet.
Competitors and Challenges
Humanity Protocol is not the first blockchain project seeking to integrate biometric identification with Web3 financial services. In 2023, OpenAI's Sam Altman co-founded Worldcoin (renamed World Network), using Orb technology to scan users' irises and create a unique digital identity.
The World project has faced considerable scrutiny, with Brazil's data protection agency recently banning the company from serving local residents.
Last December, Germany's data protection agency warned World Network about improper handling of biometric data.
Less Intrusive Than Iris Scanning
Earlier this month, Humanity Protocol founder Terence Kwok shared with TinTucBitcoin that the platform's palm scanning is "less intrusive" than World's iris scanning without compromising security.
"Users are much more familiar with biometric authentication involving palm prints and fingerprints than their iris codes," Kwok said.
Despite the controversy, biometric authentication is seen as a crucial factor driving Web3 adoption and integration with financial and healthcare services.
In a September podcast with TinTucBitcoin, Privado ID product director Sebastian Rodriguez argued that biometric authentication need not be a privacy nightmare. He also warned against equating privacy with anonymity, as the two concepts are different.
"We shouldn't fight to be anonymous. We should fight for consent. Privacy is not about anonymity. Privacy is about consent," Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez praised World's technology but questioned their business model.
"Worldcoin's model assumes they will become a monopoly," he said, expressing concern that "the scary part is the business model behind it, not the technology. If they succeed in doing what they're doing and become the way to verify uniqueness on the internet, that means there's no other meaningful way to verify uniqueness. And if I ban you, I ban you forever."
