Pantera Backs TransCrypts with $15M Seed Round to Expand Blockchain Identity Platform

TransCrypts, a blockchain startup that builds instruments that permit individuals to personal and share verified credentials, has increased a $15 million seed spherical led by Pantera Capital.

The spherical included Lightspeed Faction, Alpha Edison, Motley Idiot Ventures and a mixture of returning traders similar to Mark Cuban and Protocol Labs.

The funding follows a robust summer time for the San Francisco-based firm. In September, TransCrypts received CoinDesk’s Pitchfest at Consensus Hong Kong, taking residence $10,000 in tokens, a trophy and ten teaching classes.

Founder and CEO Zain Zaidi mentioned the win helped the crew refine its imaginative and prescient for what he calls “self-sovereign id” – a manner for individuals to manage their information straight, with out counting on employers, universities or authorities businesses.

Bureaucratic accident

Zaidi based the corporate after a bureaucratic mishap almost price him his place in highschool when his transcripts had been misplaced. “If we won’t show who we’re or what we have executed, we lose one thing important,” he mentioned in an earlier interview with CoinDesk.

TransCrypts began digitizing employment verification. The platform permits customers to gather, encrypt and share information straight with employers, background checkers or others who want it. The system shops encrypted information off-chain whereas the hashes stay on-chain, permitting customers to show authenticity with out revealing any private information.

Now that HIPAA certification has been secured, TransCrypts plans to broaden the mannequin to well being and training credentials. This permits sufferers to hold verified medical histories between healthcare suppliers, or graduates to share diplomas and transcripts with potential employers – all with out the necessity for intermediaries.

Identification onchain

This step comes as a result of the danger of fraud is growing. Individuals will lose $43 billion to id theft by 2023, and deepfake scams have risen greater than 1,800 p.c in a yr, the corporate’s launch discovered. Zaidi argues that decentralized id may also help counter these traits by giving individuals management over what information is shared, when and with whom.

TransCrypts claims to already serve 4 million customers and greater than 450 enterprise prospects, together with healthcare and human sources corporations. The brand new capital will fund the enlargement into these regulated sectors and strengthen the instruments for verifying credentials in actual time.

For customers, this might imply sooner hiring or simplified onboarding for hospitals and faculties. For the broader market, it alerts rising confidence in blockchain-based id programs – as soon as a distinct segment concept, now seen as a attainable hedge in opposition to the deepfake period.