Privado ID, previously known as Polygon ID, has officially spun out from Polygon Labs. This move is aimed at expanding beyond the Polygon networks to meet the global demand for digital identity and reputation solutions that work with both online and on-chain data, especially in an era marked by increasing identity theft, fraud, and AI-generated content.

Privado ID's protocol-agnostic design, developed by the team behind the Iden3 Protocol and PolygonID, empowers individuals to control their own data. Using cryptography and zero-knowledge proofs, it allows people to verify details such as age and qualifications without sharing personal information. The system supports W3C identity standards and is compatible with any EVM-compatible blockchain, with plans to support non-EVM blockchains in the future.

The leadership team of Privado ID includes Polygon co-founders David Schwartz and Antoni Martin as CEO and COO, respectively. Jordi Baylina, a key figure in the development of Polygon zkEVM, serves as the technical advisor, and Polygon Labs co-founder Sandeep Nailwal is the 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. He emphasized that their commitment to remaining protocol-agnostic aligns with the goal of achieving unified data, crucial for blockchain interoperability and enhancing user experience, both essential for Web3's success.

Privado ID is establishing partnerships with on-chain and institutional organizations, including proof-of-concepts with several multinational banking and financial service companies. These efforts are aimed at developing interoperable and compliant identity frameworks to ensure that only eligible participants engage with certain DeFi primitives via verifiable credentials.

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

Privado ID is the latest independent project to emerge from Polygon Labs, following the modular blockchain Avail, which spun off in March 2023. As part of that move, co-founder Anurag Arjun acquired Avail, which recently raised $43 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.