Humanity Protocol upgrades to Unicorn status after latest funding round
Humanity Protocol has recently ascended to unicorn status, securing a valuation of $1 billion after a successful $30 million funding round led by Kingsway Capital. The round saw contributions from a host of prominent investors, including Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, Hashed, Shima Capital, and others.
This significant injection of capital is earmarked for expanding Humanity Protocol’s product development as it prepares for the launch of its public testnet in the latter half of 2024. The startup is distinguished by its use of palm scanning technology to secure users’ digital identities on a blockchain, leveraging zero-knowledge technology and a consensus mechanism known as “proof-of-humanity” to verify that users are real humans rather than AI bots.
Humanity Protocol’s approach is a less invasive alternative to its competitor, Worldcoin, which uses iris scanning and has faced backlash and bans in multiple countries due to privacy concerns. Despite these controversies, Worldcoin has managed to amass a user base of 10 million people.
Since coming out of stealth mode just a month ago, Humanity Protocol has attracted significant attention, with over half a million people signing up for its waitlist. The project’s founder, Terence Kwok, launched through the Human Institute in February 2023 and has garnered support from notable industry figures, including Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, and Polygon Labs.
The rising competition in the blockchain-based identity market is driven by an increasing reliance on AI and a surge in data breaches. As per IT Governance, there were 2,814 reported incidents resulting in the breach of 8.2 billion documents in 2023 alone.
In light of these challenges, Humanity Protocol is committed to storing user information in a decentralized manner, ensuring that data ownership remains exclusively with the individual user. This method aims to protect sensitive data and enhance user privacy in an era marked by heightened data security concerns.
Countries like China and Brazil are also turning to blockchain technology to verify the identities of their vast populations, further underscoring the growing global emphasis on secure and efficient identity verification solutions.
As Humanity Protocol moves forward with its plans to introduce a decentralized identity system that is less invasive and more user-friendly, the technology world watches closely, anticipating the potential transformation in how digital identities are managed and secured.
