Polkadot News Today: Polkadot Unveils Proof-of-Personhood Identity System at Web3 Summit 2025

Polkadot, a decentralized blockchain platform, has unveiled an ambitious vision for a Proof-of-Personhood (PoP) identity system during the ongoing Web3 Summit 2025 in Berlin. The proposal, introduced by Polkadot founder Gavin Wood, aims to enable decentralized human verification directly on-chain, addressing the growing challenge of distinguishing real people from AI-generated content and bots in the digital space.

The PoP system leverages cryptography to verify an individual's uniqueness without relying on centralized ID models or Big Tech. This approach allows decentralized applications, digital platforms, DAOs, and communities to interact in a more human-centric and secure manner. The solution will be released via the blockchain’s Individuality system, with two distinct identifiers: DIM1 and DIM2. The former will represent Proof of Individuality, and the latter Proof of Verified Individuality. While no launch date has been revealed yet, Wood claimed that the PoP release will be supported by a treasury proposal valued at $3 million. Additionally, the protocol will be debuted with what he considers the “fairest airdrop ever.”

Wood's vision extends beyond identity verification, proposing significant changes to blockchain security. He suggests reducing security costs to $90 million annually and capping validator incentives at $5,000 per month. Additionally, Wood proposes limiting self-staking to prevent market manipulation and introducing validator interviews and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols. Fiscal reforms include launching a fixed issuance curve and restricting the DOT supply to around 3.14 billion. The blockchain also contemplates biannual halvings to manage inflation. These changes aim to create a more capital-efficient model, addressing the current high costs associated with staking-based security.

Wood's proposal marks a significant shift in Polkadot's approach to blockchain security and identity verification, emphasizing the importance of decentralized human verification in the digital age. The PoP system represents a bold step towards a more sustainable and secure blockchain ecosystem, aligning with the growing demand for human verification in the face of AI-generated content and bots. This is becoming increasingly necessary in the current age of artificial intelligence (AI), which has been experiencing steady development, making it incrementally complex to distinguish what is real from what is generated by AI.

In a separate summit panel dubbed “Trust,” Ian Grigg, an Inventor and Financial Cryptographer at Ricardian Contracts, explained how trust requires more than simple reassurance by technology. He believes that no matter how advanced tech becomes, it cannot fully replicate trust, as that is a human emotion filled with uncertainty and complex feelings that machines are not capable of experiencing.

Apart from this announcement, the DAO-run blockchain has achieved several other notable milestones in the past year. The Polkadot Blockchain Academy (PBA) launched its fifth edition at the end of May 2024, solidifying the initiative’s aim of nurturing and developing talent. Further down the road, Polkadot became the Title sponsor of Coinfest Asia 2024, with one of its parachains enabling Asynchronous Backing. Additionally, Leo Messi’s football team, Inter Miami, secured a sponsorship with the software platform, which has been appointed as their Global Training Partner.