Decentralized identity verification blockchain project Humanity Protocol said today it has raised $20 million in new funding.

The round was co-led by major crypto investment firms Pantera Capital and Jump Crypto at a $1.1 billion bully diluted valuation. It follows a previous $30 million round in May 2024, which valued the firm at $1 billion at the time.

Launched in 2024, the company is developing its blockchain-based verification method for identity using palm scans to fight against bots, scams and fraud. By using distributed ledgers to allow users to control their identity data, Humanity Protocol says, people can choose what businesses and companies know about them and how they access their data.

“At Humanity Protocol, we’re committed to empowering individuals with digital identities that are truly their own,” said Humanity Protocol founder Terence Kwok.

Participants register their “Human ID” and choose a permanent identity on the Humanity Protocol blockchain linked to a scan of their palmprint. Wherever a Humanity Protocol scanner is present, the user can verify themselves as human, including at events, to check in to buildings, and to make payments. The company refers to this as “Proof of Humanity.”

Humanity Protocol is a rival to the iris-scanning World, another blockchain-based identity project co-founded by OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and rebranded from Worldcoin in 2024. Worldcoin stirred controversy over the use of iris scanning given potential privacy issues associated with providing biometric data. Palm scans similarly contain identity-confirming biometric data about users, which are stored only as cryptographic hashes to prove that the palm print is the same.

The company said users could enable greater privacy for their own data and eschew third parties for identity verification by using its scanners and blockchain decentralization. User personal data remains encrypted and secret from verifiers; it reveals no details about the person, only that the scanner proves that the person is whom they say they are.

Humanity Protocol said it intends to use the funds to launch its product more widely within the next few months. There’s a waitlist for users interested in the early availability of the palm scanners.

Image: Humanity Protocol