Blockchain startup Humanity Protocol has emerged as a unicorn in less than a year, challenging the status quo of global cryptocurrency projects. With the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technology, the authenticity and verification of online identities have become a global challenge. Humanity Protocol, led by founder Terence Kwok, has developed an identity authentication system using blockchain technology that confirms individual identities through scanning users’ palms. The company recently announced a successful $30 million funding round, valuing the company at $1 billion and attracting attention from the industry.
After receiving a $1.5 million investment from angel investors and key opinion leaders in early March, Humanity Protocol’s seed funding was led by Kingsway Capital, with other investors including Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com, and Shima Capital. With the new funding, Humanity Protocol plans to expand its team, currently consisting of over 20 people, and establish more partnerships. Kwok emphasizes that the increasing number of platforms requiring user identification makes the concept of identity more important than ever.
Humanity Protocol aims to provide a secure and convenient solution to the credibility issue of online identities through its palm recognition technology. By utilizing palm scanning and a consensus mechanism called “human proof” in a decentralized system, users’ identities can be verified. This technology can be applied not only to know your customer (KYC) verification in the financial industry but also to various daily-life scenarios such as hotel check-ins and office building access.
In the second quarter, Humanity Protocol plans to launch a test network with approximately 500,000 people on the waiting list. The company will also release an application that allows users to scan their palms using their mobile phone cameras to confirm their identities. Additionally, a small infrared camera that connects to the phone will be used to sense users’ palm veins, providing an additional layer of security.
Due to the uniqueness of palm veins, which have more blood vessels and wider recognition range compared to ordinary finger veins, palm recognition offers higher accuracy and security, making it faster and easier to identify personal identity information.
In the future, Humanity Protocol plans to release an unnamed cryptocurrency that can be used to pay verification fees.
Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, also aims to solve similar problems by scanning users’ irises using specialized iris scanning tools. This has sparked the interest of privacy regulatory bodies in countries such as France, the UK, and Kenya. However, concerns over data privacy and security have raised doubts among many users and presented regulatory challenges in several countries.
Kwok states that the use of biometric identification data has matured in recent years, citing Apple’s use of FaceID on iPhones. Compared to facial and iris recognition, Humanity Protocol’s palm recognition system is less invasive, which is expected to increase user acceptance.
In an era of advancing artificial intelligence, secure verification of online identities has become one of the most important challenges. Humanity Protocol not only enhances the security of online activities but also meets users’ expectations for privacy and safety. With more funding and resources, this startup company is expected to lead the new wave of digital identity verification globally.