Startup VeryAI has 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 records identity verification on Solana and aims to help crypto exchanges, fintech companies, and online platforms address the growing risks from bots, deepfakes, and synthetic identities. The company said zero-knowledge proofs allow users to verify their status across the platform without revealing any personal information.
The system uses a smartphone’s camera to capture an image of a palm and converts it into an encrypted biometric signature that is used to verify that the user is a human, without storing any identifiable data.
The company says palm biometrics are highly distinctive and less publicized than facial features, which are commonly used for identity verification. Scans are converted into irreversible feature representations rather than stored images, which prevents the original biometric data from being reconstructed.
Zach Meltzer, founder and CEO of VeryAI, told Cointelegraph: “The internet is entering an era where we can no longer assume that every account, message, and video was created by a real person.” “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 for token incentives, and impersonation scams targeting users and project communities.
The goal is not just to prove that humans exist somewhere. It’s about enabling platforms to verify that real people exist and act authentically.
The company is already working with organizations such as MEXC, Colosseum, Clique, and Talus, and other centralized exchanges and wallets are also preparing to integrate palm authentication systems, Meltzer said.
Investors in this round included Berggruen Institute and Anagram. Solana blockchain co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko also participated as an angel investor.
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AI-generated IDs will drive demand for human verification 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 venture capital firm a16z crypto investments, warned last year that a “sea of AI-powered deepfakes and bots” could undermine trust across the internet, and suggested that blockchain systems could address the problem through cryptographic verification of identity and digital content.
One company trying to address this issue is World, co-founded by Sam Altman. The company uses biometric iris scans to generate a digital ID that allows users to prove they are human without revealing personal data. The system records evidence of a user’s uniqueness on a blockchain network while the Orb device scans a person’s face and iris to confirm their identity, but this biometric approach has drawn criticism from privacy advocates.
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As AI advances, interest in such systems appears to be increasing. In January, the token linked to World (WLD) soared nearly 40% following reports that OpenAI was considering a bot-free social media platform that would require users to verify they are human before joining.
Some developers argue that identity verification requires a balance between authentication and privacy protection. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has advocated a model that uses technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs to allow users to prove certain attributes, such as uniqueness or eligibility, without revealing their full identity.
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