Animoca Brands and other major crypto names like Polygon have backed Humanity Protocol, which announced the completion of an investment round and securing funds from venture capital funds in the crypto space. The protocol revealed on February 28 that it received strategic investments from companies such as Hashed, CMCC, Cypher Capital, Foresight Ventures, and Mechanism Capital.
Continued Interest in Humanity Protocol
Humanity Protocol stated that it received significant funding from over 20 crypto-focused venture capital funds, but did not provide information on all its investors. The protocol also did not disclose the amount raised in the fundraising round in its public announcement.
While not providing details, it was mentioned that the project is being developed in collaboration with Animoca Brands and Polygon Labs. The company also emphasized that Yat Siu, the executive chairman of Animoca Brands, and Sandeep Nailwal, a co-founder of Polygon, personally participated in the project’s financing round.
The project focuses on digital identity for Web3 by combining Polygon’s Zero-Knowledge proofs with palm recognition technology. It claims to offer a less invasive alternative to iris scans and appears to be making a significant move against the popular eye-scanning project Worldcoin.
Humanity Protocol founder Terence Kwok stated that the company believes technology should not compromise human potential but enhance it. He emphasized their work to bring a human-centric blockchain solution to the industry.
Legal Actions Against Worldcoin
Meanwhile, the Worldcoin project, working on a similar premise, is under scrutiny by various authorities worldwide. On July 28, 2023, France’s National Commission on Informatics and Liberty questioned the legality of Worldcoin’s data collection methods. On July 31, 2023, it was revealed that Germany’s privacy watchdog has been examining Worldcoin since 2022. The Kenyan government also suspended the project on August 2, 2023, to ensure it did not pose a risk to its citizens.
More recently, Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data announced an investigation into Worldcoin. On January 31, the PCPD stated that it issued search warrants as part of its investigation and entered six Worldcoin facilities in Hong Kong. The privacy watchdog expressed concerns about Worldcoin’s data collection methods, suggesting they might violate the region’s Personal Data Ordinance requirements.
