Privado ID’s Billions Network takes on World

The Billions Network is launching a token-based, non-biometric digital identity verification product to compete with World ID, Civic and others in the proof-of-personhood (PoP) space.

A release from Billions, which is advertised as being “from the team behind Privado ID,” throws down the gauntlet: “Over 9,000 projects across web2 and web3, including global platforms like TikTok, Top Doctors, and Worldcoin, a crypto verification project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and more are already implementing Billions’ zero-knowledge verification technology, Circom, for their own efforts. Despite this, none have successfully delivered a verification system that is scalable, private, and secure.”

Billions is positioning its own product as “a direct response to consumer demand and growing regulatory pressure for more accessible, secure, and mobile-first verification systems,” including those for use in age assurance and content authentication.

“The fundamental mission of Billions.Network is to enable users to prove their humanity, access a plethora of benefits, and provide legal, safe proof-of-uniqueness anytime, anywhere, and for everyone,” says Evin McMullen, CEO of Billions.

The firm cites many familiar threats as driving factors: “AI deepfakes, pig butchering scams, botting, Sybil attacks, unfair airdrop distributions,” and so on are undermining the ability to determine who is a real person online. Its overall aims are also similar to its competitors: to provide an interoperable digital verification service that prioritizes privacy and user control of data, and offers rewards through token airdrops.

But in differentiating itself, it appears to take direct aim at Altman’s World: “Many of the existing and forthcoming decentralized identity solutions still face significant challenges, including concerns over intrusiveness due to the collection of detailed biometric data,” it says. “Additionally, issues such as a lack of accessibility, privacy, and scalability remain present in the space, along with broader concerns around the dystopian nature of extensive data aggregation.”

Billions says its technology provides attestations that verify human identities without requiring any proprietary hardware (say, an orb) and validates AI agents by “cryptographically proving their training models and data sources – critical information for establishing trust in AI interactions.”

Billions grew out of Privado ID, which “works alongside Billions to onboard organizations and governmental partners, and runs on any EVM-compatible chain.” It marks the firm’s latest evolution, following the outgrowth of Privado ID from PolygonID.

Per the release, “leveraging Privado ID’s years of experience, research, and development in the digital identity sphere, Billions will not only offer frictionless credential interoperability and reusability across the world but will also take into account local laws, regulations, and standards.”

Preliminary deployments include proof-of-concept tests with Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Billions is also working with the Government of India on identity verification for the Aadhaar digital ID system, to make it “secure, universally accessible and optimized for AI-based systems.”

Article Topics

Billions Network  |  biometrics  |  Circom  |  digital ID  |  identity verification  |  Privado ID  |  proof of personhood  |  reusable digital ID  |  zero knowledge