DID Track Projects to Watch in 2024: Comparing Worldcoin to Galxe's Decentralized Identifiers

WLD’s recent performance has attracted attention, currently priced at $0.50, with a 24-hour change of +0.40%, and a circulating market cap of $1.28B. Behind this market movement is the rising interest in the entire decentralized identifier(DID) track. The success story of Worldcoin has prompted the market to reevaluate the future of identity verification — no longer controlled by centralized institutions, but by users themselves.

Why is now the time for DID explosion?

Traditional identity systems allow big tech companies and financial institutions to control your personal data, leaving you unable to decide who can see what. With the advent of Web3, everything has changed — decentralized identity verification makes you the owner of your data, fully controlling your identity information through asymmetric encryption and private key management.

DeFi applications are experiencing explosive growth, with unprecedented security verification needs. Every transaction, every cross-chain interaction, requires trusted identity verification. DIDs leverage blockchain as the underlying layer, ensuring that identity information is tamper-proof and privacy is protected — which is crucial for building financial trust.

Especially in the context of increasingly strict financial regulations, DIDs offer a clever solution: meeting KYC/AML requirements without compromising user privacy. This is a “breakthrough tool” for globalized Web3 applications.

Several different technical routes are competing

Biometric approach — Worldcoin’s iris recognition scheme

Worldcoin uses iris scans to create unique digital identities, with the core selling point being “one person can only claim WLD once.” This system has already integrated with mainstream chains like Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, etc. Recently, they launched World Chain, a Layer 2 optimized for human-computer interaction.

The team is exploring collaborations with giants like PayPal and OpenAI. Imagine unlocking advanced OpenAI features directly with iris ID — how explosive would that be? But obvious challenges exist — biometric data privacy is sensitive, and global regulation hurdles are significant.

Visual 3D identity — Lifeform’s hyper-realistic avatar scheme

Lifeform recently completed Series B funding, valued at $300M. It is a project specializing in hyper-realistic 3D virtual avatars and visual DID protocols. Using 3D images as carriers of Web3 identity, over 3 million unique addresses are already in use.

This approach is somewhat like a metaverse ID card — your virtual avatar is your identity credential, with good security and intuitive user experience. The downside is high technical difficulty and the need for substantial computational resources.

Privacy proof approach — Polygon ID’s zero-knowledge proof scheme

Polygon ID employs zero-knowledge proofs(ZKP) to allow you to prove “I am a real person” without revealing identity details — a favorite among privacy enthusiasts. In April, Polygon launched a complete identity protocol based on ZKP, with partner projects already integrated.

This route is the most “privacy-friendly,” but also the hardest to understand — for ordinary users, the concept of zero-knowledge proofs itself is quite complex.

Domain name identity — ENS and Space ID naming services

Ethereum Name Service simplifies complex wallet addresses into human-readable names like “alice.eth.” In February, they partnered with GoDaddy to enable ordinary internet users to use ENS; in April, they added ICANN-approved .box domains.

Space ID takes a cross-chain approach, allowing users to use the same identity across BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and other chains. The biggest advantage of domain-based DIDs is ease of use and broad compatibility.

Reputation system approach — Galxe’s distributed credentials

Galxe has built a DID network based on account data, mainly used for reputation systems and access control. It’s especially suitable for DAOs and DeFi applications — your on-chain transaction history can serve as a credit credential.

How to choose a project? Consider your needs

Want maximum security and unique verification? Worldcoin’s iris recognition is unbeatable. But global promotion faces challenges.

Prioritize privacy? Polygon ID’s zero-knowledge proof scheme fully meets this need. Ideal for deep DeFi users.

Need plug-and-play solutions? ENS and Space ID are ready to use, with high integration. Especially, ENS has been widely adopted.

Focusing on metaverse and social scenarios? Lifeform’s 3D virtual avatars are designed specifically for this.

Want to assess personal credit history? Galxe’s on-chain data-driven approach is irreplaceable.

The current challenges faced by DIDs

Technologically, these tools are already usable; the bottleneck is human factors:

• High user education costs. “What is a private key? How to store it?” Ordinary people find it confusing.
• Cross-chain compatibility remains an issue. How to use your identity on Solana if it’s on Ethereum? Major blockchain standards are not yet unified.
• Regulatory uncertainty. Laws regarding DID data are still being explored in various countries.
• What if you lose your private key? Centralized systems can reset passwords, but in DID systems, losing keys means losing identity.

Possible development directions in 2024-2025

1. Application explosion
DID will deeply integrate into DeFi, NFTs, DAOs. Especially applications requiring real-person verification (to prevent sybil attacks) will adopt extensively.

2. Privacy technology evolution
Zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and other black technologies will become more practical and faster. Projects like Polygon, zkSync will launch more user-friendly SDKs.

3. Cross-chain protocol standardization
Major DID projects will gradually establish common standards, enabling true cross-chain identity flow.

4. Biometric expansion
Beyond iris, fingerprint, facial recognition and other multi-modal biometric authentication will emerge. Worldcoin will have followers in this direction.

5. Entry into traditional fields
Healthcare, e-government, IoT device management will gradually incorporate DID concepts. This is the real big market.

Final words

Decentralized identity verification is not just a technological innovation but a redistribution of power — from institutions back to individuals. The competition in this track in 2024 will be fierce, but each technical route addresses different pain points.

The key is to find your application scenario. Are you an privacy extremist choosing Polygon ID, a pragmatist opting for ENS/Space ID, or someone who believes in the future of biometrics choosing Worldcoin? The market will ultimately give the answer. Currently, projects with multiple approaches tend to have the strongest survival ability — offering both specialized solutions and maintaining openness across chains and applications.

децентрализованные идентификаторы (decentralized identifiers) is just beginning; the next wave of explosion might happen during your next on-chain interaction.