Privado ID becomes the latest project to spin out from Polygon Labs

Polygon MATIC +0.61% ID has spun out from Polygon Labs and rebranded to Privado ID as it attempts to expand beyond the Polygon networks.

The move aims to meet global demand for digital identity and reputation solutions that work with both online and onchain data in the era of increasing identity theft, fraud and AI-generated content, according to a statement shared with The Block.

Privado ID’s protocol-agnostic design, from the team behind the Iden3 Protocol and PolygonID, gives individuals control over their own data, using cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs to let people verify their age, qualifications and other details without sharing personal information. It also supports W3C identity standards, works with any EVM-compatible blockchain and will also support non-EVM blockchains in the future, the project said.

Privado ID’s team includes Polygon co-founders, David Schwartz and Antoni Martin as CEO and COO, Jordi Baylina, a key figure in the development of Polygon zkEVM, as technical advisor, and Polygon Labs co-founder Sandeep Nailwal as growth advisor.

"We believe that Privado ID's technology, with its emphasis on privacy, user control, and interoperability, will revolutionize how individuals, agents, and organizations find each other and interact in connected spaces, lowering the cost of trust and mitigating the risks of identity theft, fraud, and misinformation,” Martin said in a statement shared with The Block. “Our commitment to remaining protocol-agnostic aligns perfectly with the idea that unified data is essential for blockchain interoperability and enhancing user experience, both of which are crucial for the success of Web3."

Working on proof-of-concepts

Privado ID said it was actively establishing partnerships with onchain and institutional organizations, including proof-of-concepts with several multinational banking and financial service companies, aimed at developing interoperable and compliant identity frameworks, such as ensuring only eligible participants engage with certain DeFi primitives via verifiable credentials.

The project has also integrated with the Verax attention registry on the Linea zkEVM chain developed by Consensys, designed to enhance cross-chain identity, prevent fake identities, reduce the cost of managing trustworthy data and help apps quickly establish user reputations using verified data.

Privado ID is not the only independent project to come out of Polygon, with the modular blockchain Avail spun off from Polygon Labs in March 2023. As part of the move, co-founder Anurag Arjun departed and acquired Avail, which recently raised $43 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.