Startup VeryAI raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Polychain Capital to launch a palm-scan identity verification system designed to distinguish real users from AI-generated accounts.
The platform stores identity credentials on Solana and aims to help crypto exchanges, fintech companies and online platforms address growing risks from bots, deepfakes and synthetic identities. The company said Zero-knowledge proofs allow users to check their status across platforms without revealing personal information.
The system captures images of palms using a smartphone’s camera and converts them into encrypted biometric signatures used to confirm that a user is human without storing identifiable data.
According to the company, palm biometric data is very distinctive and less publicly exposed than facial features commonly used during identity checks. Scans are converted into irreversible feature representations rather than stored images, preventing reconstruction of the original biometric data.
“We are entering a period where the internet can no longer assume that every account, post or video is created by a real person,” Zach Meltzer, founder and CEO of VeryAI, told Cointelegraph. “AI is powerful, but it also breaks many of the assumptions of trust that the Internet was built on. »
He said crypto platforms are vulnerable to these risks, citing examples such as sybil attacks during onboarding, fake accounts exploiting token incentives, and impersonation scams targeting users and project communities.
The goal isn’t just to prove that a human exists somewhere, it’s about helping platforms verify that a real person is present and acting authentically.
The company is already working with organizations such as MEXC, Colosseum, Clique and Talus, while other exchanges and centralized wallets are preparing to integrate the palm verification system, Meltzer said.
Investors participating in the round included the Berggruen Institute and Anagram. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of blockchain Solana, also joined the company as an angel investor.
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AI-generated identities drive demand for human proof systems
As artificial intelligence continues to blur the line between human and automated activity on the Internet, some developers say blockchain-based identity systems could help restore trust in digital interactions.
Chris Dixon, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz and founder of the venture capital firm’s a16z crypto investment arm, last year warned that an “ocean of deepfakes and AI-powered bots” could erode trust on the internet and suggested that blockchain systems could help solve the problem through cryptographic verification of identity and digital content.
A company trying to solve the problem is Worldco-founded by Sam Altman, which uses biometric iris scans to generate a digital identity allowing users to prove they are human without revealing personal data. The system records proof of a user’s uniqueness on a blockchain network while the Orb device scans a person’s face and iris to verify their identity, although the biometric approach has attracted attention. critical privacy advocates.
As AI advances, interest in these systems appears to be growing. In January, the token linked to the World (WLD) jumped about 40% after reports that OpenAI was exploring a bot-free social media platform that would require users to verify they are human before participating.
Some developers argue that identity verification must balance authentication and privacy. Co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin pleaded for models which allow users to prove specific attributes, such as uniqueness or eligibility, without revealing their full identity using technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs.
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