Sep 8, 2025
TL;DR
Human Network is the Decentralized layer for identity computation – powering Human Keys (private keys and zk nullifiers) for privacy-preserving verification and easy onboarding at scale.
Secured by $3B+ in restaking and operated by 27 nodes, the network has issued 1.1M+ Human Keys so far and handles ~20k requests per day on average, peaking at 49k.
Human Network already computes 100% of Human Passport’s credential workload.
Entropy Becomes Key for Web3 Use Cases
Whether we realize it or not, identity is a core layer of web3, from wallet logins to Sybil resistance to fair distribution of funds (aid, rewards, etc.). Applications increasingly need a way to determine whether a user is authenticated, human, and unique.
But most of this relies on identity, whereas web3 works via cryptography. Identities such as names, emails, phone numbers, and passwords are memorable. But cryptography needs long random sequences of characters called private keys. Memorability is a weakness for private keys – it means they aren’t truly random! Human Network bridges the gap between identity and cryptography by letting you create essentially random keys from identities that aren’t random. This allows you to use identities as keys, so you don’t need to manage private keys yourself but rather just prove who you are, who you say you are or log in with an account you own. Then you get a key from that.
Having a key that represents you solves all sorts of problems – you never lose access to your wallet if it’s based on your identity, and you can privately prove you are a unique person just by showing you have a Human key.
What We Do: Privacy-Preserving Infrastructure for Decentralized Identity
Human Network is built on threshold multiparty computation (MPC) and verifiable Oblivious Pseudorandom Functions (vOPRFs). Using these techniques, the Network delivers two core primitives for Decentralized Identity: Private Keys and ZK Nullifiers – both referred to as Human Keys.
Human Keys
All Human Keys are generated in the same way: through distributed vOPRF computation across independent nodes, seeded with human-derived entropy. This ensures keys are unique, portable, and verifiably tied to a human without exposing personal data. While the method of generation is the same, the function they serve defines their use.
Private Keys
Human Keys can function as private keys – enabling wallets without seed phrases, secure communication via encryption keys, and other cryptographic operations tied to a verified human.
At the same time, they enable easy wallet recovery. Human Keys aren’t stored in one place or handed out as a static secret. They’re generated through threshold multiparty computation (MPC) across independent nodes, so no single party – not even the user – ever holds the full key. Instead, the Human Key can be re-derived at any time, anchored to the same verified human attribute.
ZK Nullifiers
Human Keys can also serve as zero-knowledge (ZK) nullifiers – unique, privacy-preserving tokens that allow applications to deduplicate users across wallets and credentials. This ensures one human counts once, preventing fraud and Sybil attacks without linking accounts. Nullifiers can also be used for rate limiting, allowing protocols to cap actions per verified human without revealing their identity.
Together, these primitives form the infrastructure layer for Decentralized identity: portable, privacy-preserving, and secured by billions in restaked collateral.
Human Network’s Progress in Numbers
Since its mainnet rollout in February 2025, Human Network has grown into a reliable backbone for Decentralized identity computation. A few highlights:
📊 You can follow some of these numbers in real time on our Human Network dashboard.
AVS on EigenLayer and Symbiotic
Human Network is an Autonomous Verifiable Service (AVS) on EigenLayer and Symbiotic, restaking protocols that extend Ethereum’s security, providing a decentralised service that inherits restaked security from each network. We’re currently the 5th AVS on Symbiotic by stake, and 26th on EigenLayer by TVL.
In the spotlight, EigenLayer presents Human Network as an AVS that powers human-friendly cryptographic keys (Human Keys) and programmable privacy, making intuitive, self-custodial onboarding possible.
Benchmarking with Human Passport
Human Passport serves as our proving ground: a high-traffic application that has already issued 35M credentials to 2.2M users. Currently, every credential computation that Passport runs through the Network.
The benchmarking results so far show:
The Network processes 100% of Passport’s credential workload.
Capacity holds steady even under traffic peaks of nearly 50k requests per day.
These tests confirm that Human Network is already capable of carrying Passport-scale demand in production, validating its role as a reliable layer for Decentralized identity computation.
In the future, Human Passport may switch from hash-based credential checks to nullifier-based computation on Human Network, enabling Decentralized deduplication at scale.
What’s Next for Human Network
Human Network is in its benchmarking phase: scaling capacity, refining error rates, and proving stability under real-world load. This stage ensures the Network is hardened before it becomes production-ready infrastructure.
Human Network use cases extend well beyond Passport alone. Its primitives will soon be available to partners as a backend service, including:
Human Key issuance and verification → enabling portable, cryptographic proofs of identity across applications.
Scoped and global zk nullifier generation → privacy-preserving deduplication within a single app or across multiple systems.
Cross-credential zk nullifiers → allowing different credential providers – even competitors in the DID space – to deduplicate users without sharing raw data.
With Human Passport, we’re laying the foundation. The next step is direct integrations: making Human Network a service any partner can plug into, bringing privacy-preserving identity computation to applications at scale.
Build on Human Network
Identity needs infrastructure. Human Network provides it: decentralized, scalable, and already validated at scale.
If you’re exploring decentralized identity, designing systems for easy onboarding, looking to move away from seed phrases for your wallet, or running unique humanity proofs, we’d love to hear from you.
Learn more:
📖 Docs
🌐 Website
✍️ Introductory blog: Human Network for Keys, Wallets, and Identity
🔬 Deeper dive: The Human Network
FAQ
What is Human Network?
Human Network is a decentralized infrastructure layer for identity computation. It delivers Human Keys and zk nullifiers to enable privacy-preserving, Sybil-resistant systems at scale.
What are zk nullifiers?
zk nullifiers are zero-knowledge tokens that let applications deduplicate users across wallets and credentials, ensuring one human counts once without exposing personal data. Human Keys generated by Human Network can be used as zk nullifiers.
How is Human Network secured?
The Network is secured by $3B+ in restaking, with delegation on EigenLayer and Symbiotic, and operated by 27 independent nodes.
How does Human Network relate to Human Passport?
Human Passport is a proof-of-humanity app. Human Network is a decentralized infrastructure that apps like Passport can use for secure wallet login and cross-credential deduplication.
Is human.tech (and Human Network) just about identity?
human.tech is broader than identity-only. It's an open cryptographic framework–self-custodial keys from human data, a 2 Party Computation wallet, and private, modular identity–so people can interact securely on the web
About Human Network
Human Network, previously Mishti Network, creates secure cryptographic keys using familiar user-side authentication methods like web accounts and biometrics with programmable key management and private identity proofs. The Human Network generates Human Keys.
About Human Passport (formerly Gitcoin Passport)
Human Passport is an identity verification application and Sybil resistance protocol with more than 2.2M users. It enables users to collect verifiable credentials, or Stamps, that prove their identity and trustworthiness without exposing personally identifying information. To date, Human Passport has protected over $430M in airdrop and grant funds.
