Self, a zero-knowledge identity and proof-of-humanity protocol used by Google ( GOOG ) and Aave, said it raised $9 million in seed funding and introduced a points-based rewards program to promote on-chain identity verification.
Investors include Greenfield Capital, Startup Capital Ventures x SBI Fund (SoftBank), Spearhead VC, Verda Ventures, Fireweed Ventures and angel backers such as Casey Neistat, Sreeram Kannan (EigenLayer), Sandeep Nailwal (Polygon), Julien Bouteloup (Curve), Jill Carlson (The Espresso Company) said in a press release from Hartto Lambur (Espresso Across) on Thursday.
Self provides privacy-preserving identity infrastructure using zero-knowledge proofs and verifiable credentials to verify attributes such as age or uniqueness without revealing personal data.
The protocol supports verification via biometric passports, national IDs and India’s Aadhaar, as well as lightweight mobile onboarding through Self Connect.
Zero-knowledge proofs let crypto users confirm that something is true, such as the validity of a transaction, without revealing any underlying details. They prove the validity of statements about blockchains without offering information that could compromise privacy.
Already integrated with Google, Aave and Velodrome, Self powers use cases from Sybil-resistant airdrops to Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)-compliant token distributions.
The points program rewards users for verifying identity and interacting across partner platforms, with future integrations expanding earning opportunities.
Read more: Boundless launches Mainnet on base and ushers in Universal Zero-Knowledge Compute
