Holonym Foundation Emerges with $5.5 Million Seed Funding to Provide Global Digital Personhood with Human Keys

As a seasoned researcher with years of experience in the ever-evolving world of blockchain and digital identity, I find myself consistently intrigued by the innovative strides being made in this space. The recent announcement of Holonym Foundation’s successful $5.5 million seed funding round is one such development that has piqued my interest.


Delaware, United States, August 16th, 2024, Chainwire

Finality Capital, Paper Ventures, Arrington Capital, Draper Dragon, and Lightshift (alongside other investors) are taking the lead in this endeavor.

As a researcher immersed in the digital identity security realm for the decentralized web, I’m thrilled to share that our organization, Holonym Foundation, has completed a highly successful $5.5 million seed funding round. This significant milestone was spearheaded by Finality Capital and Paper Ventures, with substantial contributions also from Draper Dragon, Arrington Capital, Lightshift, Zero Knowledge Ventures, Zero DAO, and other distinguished funds.

Shady El Damaty, one of Holonym’s Co-Founders, stated: “We’re embedding fundamental, people-centric values into the technology we release globally. Our aim is to establish a universal open-source layer that enhances the digital capabilities of every citizen with even minimal access to identity verification through cryptography for proof of individuality.”

“We can’t have self-sovereign control of our monetary assets without self-sovereign identity. The Holonym foundation is building critical middleware and applications that will make Web3 users the envy of Web2 users by giving them the power to own, govern, and selectively share their data with strong privacy and security guarantees. Holonym will be part of the solution to usher in the next trillion dollars of assets into blockchain.’’, said Kamal Mokeddem, GP of Finality Capital.

Cryptographic keys, or private keys, run the web and secure every digital interaction on the internet. But what if private keys could be built differently and in a more sophisticated way? Human Keys completely change how private keys are derived. Instead of creating private keys from random phrases, Human Keys make humans into keys. This new framing shifts ownership of digital assets from the holder of a random seed, to the human that can uniquely prove their biometrics. Human Keys make the ownership layers of the internet built on top more consumer-friendly, decentralized, and secure. 

The Human Keys consist of three protocols created by the Holonym Foundation. These protocols are centered around strong security and robust data privacy.

    Mishti Network, a breakthrough threshold entropy network that computes an Oblivious Pseudorandom Function (OPRF) on biometric data. 
    This allows humans to derive random secure keys that are hard to steal, and it unlocks private homomorphic computation on encrypted data, allowing untrusted third-parties to authenticate users without ever seeing the underlying data. 
    This is an Actively Validated Service (AVS) on Eigenlayer with crypto economic mechanisms that leverage the economic security of the Ethereum network.
    Zeronym, a zero knowledge identity protocol, leverages Human Keys to allow anyone in the world to secretly prove facts about their identity. 
    Over 125,000 pseudonymous Zeronym users around the world have already unlocked these rights, proving their unique personhood, residency, and other attributes to curate a rich digital reputation that they alone own and control.
    Silk, a simple and elegant wallet user interface for interacting with crypto protocols. 
    Human Keys are made usable in the real world by the everyday internet user with Silk.
    Silk provides advanced security tools to protect users from hackers, scams, and malware on the decentralized web.

Nanak Nihal Singh Khalsa, a partner at Holonym, expressed: “Humanity encompasses more than just physical attributes like your face. It involves what you possess, what you understand, and who you are – your possessions, your mind, and your body. On today’s centralized internet, we unknowingly give away control of our data. Web3 should be a platform that ensures strong ownership and secure sharing of personal information, ensuring that only you retain the rights to your data.”

By granting every human in the world a secure key that only they can hold and control, the Holonym Foundation moves towards global digital inclusion, precisely at a time when advancements in artificial intelligence are poised to leave so many behind.

Shady El Damaty, one of the founders of Holonym, believes that the launch of the Holonym Foundation is merely the beginning. “The Human Keys initiative aims to transform the way people engage with the internet by curbing the excesses of power and fortifying individual rights through robust, decentralized systems based on Zeronym and Mishti Network.”

The Holonym Foundation concentrates on pioneering advances in practical cryptography, providing effective answers to everyday challenges.

About Holonym Foundation

The objective of the Holonym Foundation is to spread the concept of Human Keys, which aim to enhance usability of security and privacy in trust-free settings. The Holonym Foundation has constructed an infrastructure that enables individuals worldwide to generate Human Keys via Mishti Network, effortlessly utilize them with Silk, and confidentially verify details about their identity using Zeronym.

Holonym Foundation Products

Mishti Network: A network that implements a zero-trust strategy for deriving Human Keys based on high entropy data such as personal biometrics, passwords, security questions, or any human-memorable information. Mishti contributes to Zeronym’s adaptable privacy solutions in the areas of on-chain private banking, transactions, and other regulated industries.

Silk. This is a user-friendly digital wallet designed for swift onboarding. It uses Human Keys and zero trust mechanisms to store, transfer funds, interact with global financial protocols online, and manage your personal data securely. Silk functions as a safeguarded self-custody wallet, allowing recovery without the need for trusted intermediaries.

As a privacy analyst, I’d highlight the unique advantage of Zeronym: My role involves showcasing the innovative approach to personal identity and verification. This cutting-edge technology offers lightning-fast client-side privacy, catering to digital credentials from a diverse global landscape of 180 countries. The groundbreaking concept of Human Keys enables the secure, private validation of any fact without disclosing sensitive information under zero-knowledge protocols.

CONTACT & SOCIALS

For PR enquiries users can contact press@holonym.io

Users can stay connected with Holonym Foundation and it’s Products:

🌐 holonym.id, mishti.network, silk.sc

✖️ X Holonym | Zer0nym | Mishti Network | Silk

📲 Telegram Holonym Official | Mishti Network | Mishti Community | Holonym Dev Support

💼 Holonym Linkedin

✍️ Holonym Medium

📝 Holonym on Paragraph

🎥 Holonym YouTube

🎙️ Farcaster | ‌holonym | zeronym | silkysignon

📝 Holonym on Discord

Contact

Press
Holonym
pr@holonym.io

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2024-08-16 23:33