World, the human identity company formerly known as Worldcoin and co-founded by OpenAI chief Sam Altman, has released its zero-knowledge identity proving toolkit ProveKit as open-source software.
The move means developers outside World can now use the technology, which was introduced through early access in World ID in April, a World Foundation spokesperson told The Block.
ProveKit is designed to allow people to generate cryptographic proofs on their own smartphones or web browsers. Those proofs can confirm specific claims, such as whether someone is above a certain age, holds a particular nationality or owns a valid identity document, without exposing the personal information behind them.
World said a verifier would receive confirmation only of the claim being checked, rather than the user’s underlying data.
“We are now launching ProveKit open source because we believe this technology is key for privacy-preserving authentication and must be neutral and permissionless,” the spokesperson said.
The toolkit uses local proof generation rather than delegated proving. That means sensitive information does not have to be sent to an external server to be processed, which World said lowers the risk of data exposure and gives users greater control over their personal information.
The release comes as concerns about the handling and theft of identity documents remain high. Earlier this week, veteran cybersecurity investigative journalist Brian Krebs reported that the New Orleans field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the dark web service Nexus.
The service is reportedly selling scans of more than 153 million United States and Canadian driving licences. The information appears to have been taken from identity verification company IDScan.net.
“Identity documents should only be authenticated using zero-knowledge proofs,” Remco Bloemen, head of blockchain at World Foundation, said in an X post. “Stop revealing all your personal details just to prove you have a valid driver’s license.”
Technology designed for phones and browsers
World said ProveKit has been under development for about two years. It supports Noir, the Rust-inspired programming language created by Aztec for building zero-knowledge applications.
Developers can also use the toolkit to create new provable claims without needing to place those claims directly into an application bundle, according to World.
The software is intended to run on standard consumer hardware, including smartphones and browsers. World said its benchmarks show that a typical phone can complete a proof within seconds, while a low-end device used during testing did so in less than 30 seconds.
The company also said ProveKit is designed so that information stored in World ID credentials remains inaccessible to World Foundation, Tools for Humanity and other third parties.
Those credentials can hold information from identity documents fitted with NFC chips on a user’s device. NFC, or Near Field Communication, is a short-range wireless technology that allows a smartphone to read documents such as passports and national identity cards when held nearby.
World said documents containing NFC chips are cryptographically signed by the authority that issued them. That signature can then be checked and proven inside a zero-knowledge circuit without revealing the document’s contents.
Future blockchain applications
ProveKit is designed to provide 128-bit post-quantum security and does not rely on a trusted setup. World said the security level is intended to keep the best-known attacks, including attacks using quantum computers, computationally infeasible.
The first version, ProveKit v1, is production-ready and optimised for off-chain verification. This includes verification by servers, computers and mobile devices.
World is also developing ProveKit v2, which it expects to deliver smaller proofs, faster proving times and lower memory use. The next version is also intended to improve verification directly on blockchains.
“One path we’re exploring is support for Groth16, a zk-SNARK proving scheme whose proofs are very efficient to verify on blockchains including World Chain, Ethereum, Base, and Solana,” the spokesperson said. “The previous version of World ID was based on the Ethereum Foundation’s Semaphore protocol, which also uses Groth16,” they added.
World continues to promote privacy-focused identity tools while its biometric identity project faces regulatory scrutiny in several markets. Those include Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines.
The company said it remains in discussions with regulators as it expands internationally.
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