Alex

Meet Self Protocol Imagine a world where you can verify your Self without handing over your personal data. No centralized database that can be hacked, no unnecessary exposure for airdrops, no more sybil identities or AI agents overwhelming community governance proposals and giveaways. Self is the onchain verification primitive, built on privacy and control. Self Protocol leverages zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to let users prove who they are (key attributes like age, citizenship, etc.) without revealing their sensitive details to thirdparty applications. It’s decentralized, secure, and trustless. Here's how it works: Registration & Verification - Users register their credentials through the Self app. The application reads the user’s biometric data stored on the RFID chip in their biometric passport and verifies the authenticity of this data onchain in ZK using publicly available information from issuing countries. Self prevents duplicate registrations with the same passport, proving uniqueness and preventing sybil attacks. Disclosure - Thirdparty applications can then request verification of specific statements derived from their passport data (such as whether someone is older than 18, or whether they are not a citizen of a particular group of countries). The user maintains control by approving exactly what information they want to share, and can optionally link such proofs to a public wallet address. Self then generates a zero-knowledge proof that verifies the requested disclosure and never reveals the underlying personal data. Verification & Authentication - Applications can instantly verify the validity of these disclosure proofs without accessing a user’s personal information either onchain across Ethereum or offchain. This trustless authentication removes the need for centralized databases of user information, eliminating the risk of data breaches. Get started: Self is coming out of stealth today following the acquisition of @openpassportapp by Self Labs, and will be available in the Play and iOS app stores in the coming days. It's been audited by zkSecurity and allows builders to build new primitives that interact with their onchain and offchain applications. Come by our booth at EthDenver (in the Privacyville Area) for a demo and launch edition swag and check out our developer docs and SDK. We can't wait to see what you build, whether it's a DEX that checks that users are not on the OFAC list, or something fun that rewards people with tokens on their birthdays.

📢Baklava Testnet is Upgrading to L2! 📢 The wait is over—Baklava Testnet’s upgrade is set for Feb 20, 2024. This is a crucial final dry run ahead of the mainnet upgrade and a key step in Celo’s transition to an Ethereum Layer 2. Validators & partners, get ready! Details here: forum.celo.org/t/baklava-tes…