Polygon Labs has spun off its Polygon ID service, which will now be known as Privado ID. As an independent entity, the protocol-agnostic service can now provide its self-sovereign identity control solution beyond the Polygon network.

Privado ID has uses such as proving humanity and uniqueness, thus complicating Sybil attacks, implementing airdrops and other incentives, trading on decentralized exchanges, and fulfilling compliance procedures like proof of age or Know Your Customer. It can also be used in traditional finance for the transfer of securities, intellectual property, land titles and similar tokenized assets.

Related: Are ZK-proofs the key to Europe’s new digital ID regulations?

Users can directly control their identities and the information released, for example, by proving their ages without disclosing their addresses or nationalities. Identity files can be recovered using seed phrases because identities are stored locally in users’ wallets. Identity issuers can be onchain or offchain, such as the government.

ID is part of Polygon’s ZK push

Polygon began developing its identity solution in March 2022 and launched it a year later. It offers cryptographic-based zero-knowledge (ZK) technology. It prevents information from being stored or passed on by a third party and can verify the authenticity of digital content, reducing the risk of accepting AI-generated misinformation. Potential uses could extend to the metaverse, gaming and non-fungible tokens.

According to a statement provided to Cointelegraph, Privado ID has undergone proof-of-concept with multinational banks and other financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank and Consensys, that examined the technical aspects of interoperability, compliance and permissioned transactions.

ID solution already has users

It has also integrated with the attestation registry of the Linea zkEVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) blockchain developed by Consensys. Privado ID co-founder and chief operating officer Antoni Martin said:

“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.”

He also said Privado ID would lower the cost of trust and risk mitigation. Privado ID promises to support non-EVM blockchains in the future.

Polygon Labs co-founder Sandeep Nailwal will serve as a growth adviser for Privado ID. He was appointed Polygon’s chief business officer in May and will concentrate particularly on the development of new ZK solutions.

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