POH Integration proposal - Enhanced General-Hardware Biometric Solution

Proof of Humanity
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Hi everyone! Following my introduction to this community in the Telegram group, I’m excited to share how our client-side face verification technology could strengthen the proof of personhood ecosystem while addressing key challenges in current approaches.

Addressing Vitalik’s Framework Gaps

Referencing Vitalik’s analysis of PoP systems, we’ve identified a critical gap: “General-purpose biometrics can be adopted very easily today, but their security is rapidly dwindling, and they may only work for another 1-2 years”

Our solution: Enhanced general-hardware biometric that extends this timeline significantly while maintaining accessibility advantages.

Technical Breakthrough: “Enhanced General-Hardware Biometric”

What we’ve achieved:

  • Battle-tested anti-spoofing: 10B+ monthly verifications by Big Tech proving sophisticated fraud resistance
  • Next-generation deepfake detection: Developing cutting-edge deepfake detection for Big Tech clients to stay ahead of AI-generated attacks, available Q4
  • Demographic fairness: 97-99% accuracy across all skin tones, genders, ages (addressing bias issues plaguing other systems)
  • Client-side privacy: Face embeddings stored locally, never centralized
  • Any-device compatibility: Works on smartphones, tablets, laptops without specialized hardware

Live Demo: Building Blocks in Action

See our technology in action: [3-minute demo video showing anonymous validation of personhood, uniqueness, and demographics in seconds for cents - the same building blocks that power 10B+ monthly verifications for Big Tech, now deployable client-side for PoP applications]

Comparison to Existing Approaches

vs. WorldCoin (Specialized Hardware):

  • :white_check_mark: No expensive Orb deployment required
  • :white_check_mark: Global accessibility through existing smartphones
  • :white_check_mark: No hardware trust dependencies
  • :balance_scale: Comparable assurance without infrastructure barriers

vs. Proof of Humanity (Basic General-Hardware):

  • :white_check_mark: No public video uploads (privacy-preserving)
  • :white_check_mark: Superior anti-spoofing against AI-generated fakes
  • :white_check_mark: Demographic fairness built-in
  • :white_check_mark: Scalable to billions without manual review

vs. Social Graph Systems:

  • :white_check_mark: No bootstrapping limitations
  • :white_check_mark: Immediate global deployment
  • :white_check_mark: Could provide biometric bootstrap for social graph systems (per Vitalik’s hybrid vision)

Unique Value Propositions

Fairness Revolution: First PoP system with proven fairness across all demographics - no one gets left behind due to algorithmic bias

Privacy-First Architecture:

  • Local embedding storage
  • Optional decentralized keys for cross-device verification
  • No centralized biometric database

Government Integration Ready:

  • Can bridge to existing digital ID infrastructure
  • Supports tiered verification (lightweight PoP → government ID → full KYC)
  • Compatible with regulatory frameworks globally

Proven Anti-Spoofing: Real-world battle-testing at hyperscale, not theoretical security

Addressing Core PoP Challenges

Sybil Resistance: 1:N matching prevents duplicate registrations while preserving privacy

Accessibility: Works wherever smartphones exist (87% Sub-Saharan Africa vs. hundreds of Orbs)

Coercion Resistance: Client-side processing makes government interception more difficult

Selling/Renting Prevention: Can enable re-registration and account recovery mechanisms

Integration Opportunities

Immediate Applications:

  • Gitcoin Passport enhancement
  • Quadratic voting improvements
  • UBI token distribution
  • Social platform verification

Ecosystem Bridges:

  • Bootstrap for social graph systems
  • Government partnership pathway
  • Standards development (C2PA, W3C, etc.)

Technical Readiness

SDK Available: Ready for integration into existing PoP systems

Open Source Commitment: Prepared to open-source core components for community development

Standards Compatible: Works with existing identity protocols and frameworks

Addressing Vitalik’s “Hybrid Vision”

Our solution enables the hybrid approach Vitalik outlined:

  • Short-term: Enhanced biometric bootstrap at massive scale
  • Long-term: Foundation for social graph systems to build upon
  • Bridge: Connection to government systems for broader adoption

Community Questions

  1. How can we best complement existing PoP systems rather than compete?
  2. What integration points would be most valuable for the ecosystem?
  3. Which applications would benefit most from enhanced biometric verification?
  4. How should we balance accessibility vs. security in PoP design?

Next Steps:

  • Technical deep dive with interested developers
  • Pilot integrations with existing PoP systems
  • Community feedback on architectural approach
  • Standards development collaboration

The goal isn’t to replace existing approaches but to strengthen the entire PoP ecosystem with battle-tested, fair, and privacy-preserving biometric verification.

I’m genuinely excited to learn from this community and contribute to the critical work of building human-centric verification systems for the digital age.

Scott @ Realeyes

1 Like
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Hi Scott, thanks for the detailed write-up. One point of clarification based on what I understand, PoH requires both a public photo and video on IPFS for community curation/challenges. How does the system’s “no public video uploads” approach fit into this? From my understanding, it seems it can’t fully replace the current requirement.

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Hi there! Apologies for the delay.

Great question - you’re absolutely right that there’s an architectural mismatch between our current “no public uploads” approach and PoH’s community curation model.

Our system is designed for private verification (user proves personhood to a service without public exposure), while PoH uses public verification (community validates submissions). These serve different use cases:

Where we could potentially integrate:

  • Pre-screening layer: Our face verification could validate submissions before they reach community review, reducing obviously fraudulent attempts
  • Dispute resolution: Provide additional verification data for challenged profiles (with user consent)
  • Hybrid model: Users could choose private verification for some services, public for PoH registration

What we’d need to adapt:

  • Optional public submission pathway for PoH integration
  • Metadata generation for community reviewers (without storing the biometric data itself)
  • Integration with PoH’s challenge/validation workflow

I think there’s room for complementary solutions here rather than direct replacement. Our strength is in automated, privacy-preserving verification at scale, while PoH’s strength is in community-driven validation and governance.

Would you be interested in exploring how we might work together on a hybrid approach? I’d love to understand more about your current fraud patterns and where automated pre-screening might add value.

Best, Scott