Holonym Foundation Secures $5.5 Million in Seed Funding for Digital Identity Project
Holonym Foundation, an organization focused on developing next-generation digital identity security for the decentralized web, has successfully raised $5.5 million in seed funding. The funding round was led by Finality Capital and Paper Ventures, with significant contributions from Draper Dragon, Arrington Capital, Lightshift, Zero Knowledge Ventures, Zero DAO, and other prominent funds.
The foundation is introducing the concept of Human Keys, a new approach to cryptographic key generation. Unlike traditional private keys derived from random phrases, Human Keys are created based on an individual's unique biometric data. This shift aims to transfer ownership of digital assets from random seed holders to the humans who can prove their biometrics, potentially making the internet more consumer-friendly, decentralized, and secure.
Holonym Foundation's technology stack includes three main protocols: Mishti Network, Zeronym, and Silk. The Mishti Network is described as a threshold entropy network that computes an Oblivious Pseudorandom Function on biometric data, allowing for secure key derivation and private homomorphic computation. Zeronym, a zero-knowledge identity protocol, enables users to prove facts about their identity secretly. Silk serves as a user interface for interacting with crypto protocols, making Human Keys accessible to everyday internet users.
According to Shady El Damaty, Co-Founder of Holonym, the foundation's goal is to build a global open-source layer that enhances the capabilities of each citizen with basic access to a digital identity using cryptography to prove their personhood. The foundation reports that over 125,000 pseudonymous Zeronym users worldwide have already utilized these protocols to prove their unique personhood, residency, and other attributes.
Kamal Mokeddem, GP of Finality Capital, emphasized the importance of self-sovereign identity in conjunction with self-sovereign control of monetary assets. He stated that Holonym's middleware and applications aim to empower Web3 users with the ability to own, govern, and selectively share their data with strong privacy and security guarantees.
The Holonym Foundation positions its work as a step towards global digital inclusion, particularly in light of advancements in artificial intelligence. By providing every human with a secure, individually controlled key, the foundation aims to redefine internet interactions, potentially limiting power overreach and strengthening individual rights through decentralized protocols built on Zeronym and Mishti Network.
