OneBalance Raises $20M Series A to Redefine On-Chain Identity and Digital Ownership
July 1, 2025
byFenoms Startup Research
OneBalance, a rising star in the digital identity and decentralized web infrastructure space, has raised $20,000,000 in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its on-chain identity platform. The round was led by cyber•Fund, Blockchain Capital, Mirana Ventures, and L2IV, signaling growing confidence in the future of decentralized digital presence.
Founded by Stephane G., Daniel Worsley, and Ankit Chiplunkar, OneBalance is building the identity layer the internet never had - one that puts users in control of their data, identity, and interactions across the blockchain ecosystem.
The Real Unlock: Infrastructure That Developers Don't Have to Think About
What most founders in Web3 are missing is this: identity isn’t just a feature - it’s infrastructure. The next layer of blockchain utility will not be powered by the next DEX, or NFT minting tool, or even another Layer 2. It will be powered by the invisible rails that reduce friction across all of them.
This is where OneBalance plays a game-changing role. If your startup can eliminate a piece of repeated effort across the ecosystem - like building KYC logic, login flows, or access controls - you become indispensable. Infrastructure wins not by going viral, but by becoming forgettable in the best possible way. You’re just there, quietly powering everything.
And here’s the ultra value drop for founders building in Web3:
You don’t need to build the next big consumer app to dominate a category - you need to become the thing other builders depend on. That’s where OneBalance is headed. By offering identity as a programmable primitive, it’s becoming the default for developers who want to stop rebuilding identity and start building experiences.
What Is OneBalance?
OneBalance is an on-chain identity protocol designed to unify how users represent themselves across Web3. By enabling interoperable, privacy-first identity wallets, the platform makes it possible for individuals to carry a single, verifiable, portable identity across DeFi apps, DAOs, gaming ecosystems, and social platforms.
In a fragmented world of wallets, tokens, and pseudo-anonymous logins, OneBalance introduces a new layer of trust and continuity. It acts as a passport for the decentralized
What OneBalance Actually Enables
At a protocol level, OneBalance makes it possible to:
- Prove real-world credentials (e.g. age, country, DAO membership) using zk-attestations
- Establish cross-platform reputation scores and trust frameworks
- Enable seamless onboarding and access control across DeFi, NFTs, and social platforms
- Provide privacy-preserving KYC/AML verification without compromising user data
In essence, it replaces fractured, app-specific sign-ins with a portable, programmable, zero-knowledge-proof-ready identity framework.
Meet the Founders and Their Vision
Co-founders Stephane, Daniel, and Ankit bring deep experience from across blockchain architecture, data privacy, and protocol economics. Their past work includes scaling L1 networks, designing DAO governance layers, and building global payment infrastructure.
Their vision for OneBalance is clear: a user-owned identity standard that developers don’t have to think about, and users don’t have to fight with.
web - where reputation, access control, KYC compliance, and data ownership converge into one seamless system.
Why the Timing Is Perfect
The raise comes at a time when the digital identity market is undergoing massive transformation. With Web3 adoption rising and global regulators increasingly focused on on-chain compliance, identity is quickly becoming the bottleneck - and the battleground - for decentralized ecosystems.
According to Allied Market Research, the global digital identity market is projected to grow from $27.9 billion in 2022 to $83.2 billion by 2030, driven by both enterprise demand and individual user sovereignty.
Meanwhile, over 400 million crypto wallet addresses exist globally, yet there is no unified standard for proving identity, managing access, or building cross-platform reputation. OneBalance steps into this void - not as a KYC-only tool, but as a modular, user-owned identity layer that applications can plug into directly.
Here’s What Founders Need to Understand About Web3 Infrastructure
Most Web3 builders are focused on products - DEXs, games, wallets, DAOs. But the real power lies underneath: the foundational layers that make everything else work better.
OneBalance is positioning identity not as a feature, but as horizontal infrastructure - something every other protocol can rely on. This shift unlocks compounding value: if you control the identity layer, you don’t just improve one app - you become the connective tissue between all of them.
Here’s the insight most founders miss:
In Web3, your surface-level product may gain users, but it’s your protocol-level integrations that build dominance. If you can remove friction for other builders - by solving onboarding, compliance, or cross-chain reputation - you become the standard others build on. That’s how you shift from a product to a platform.
OneBalance isn’t chasing users - it’s building the identity API layer for the decentralized web. And founders building in DeFi, gaming, or community tooling should be thinking the same way: How do you become the primitive others can’t ignore?
Meet the Founders
Stephane G., Daniel Worsley, and Ankit Chiplunkar bring a wealth of experience in blockchain architecture, privacy engineering, and cross-chain infrastructure. From scaling decentralized exchanges to designing governance systems, they’ve each built at the protocol layer - and that DNA is clear in how OneBalance is structured.
This isn’t a wallet. It’s an identity rail for the programmable internet, with sovereignty, interoperability, and developer-first tooling at its core.
Investor Confidence in Identity Infrastructure
The $20M raise reflects growing investor alignment with OneBalance’s long-term thesis. Backers include:
- cyber•Fund – early supporters of Ethereum, Cosmos, and other foundational Layer 1s
- Blockchain Capital – known for investing in Coinbase, OpenSea, Aave, and the critical middleware of Web3
- Mirana Ventures – active in scaling DeFi protocols and infrastructure plays
- L2IV – backing zk-tech and interoperability solutions across Ethereum’s Layer 2 landscape
With these partners, OneBalance gains not only capital, but access to a deep bench of protocol teams, compliance partners, and developer networks.
The Market Opportunity
As regulatory pressure and adoption both rise, identity becomes a non-negotiable layer. Gartner predicts that by 2027, over 50% of Web3 applications will depend on third-party identity systems, up from less than 5% in 2023. Add in the exponential growth of tokenized assets and AI-driven user interactions, and the case for a unified, self-sovereign ID protocol only strengthens.
And with decentralized social protocols, RWA platforms, and cross-chain wallets all exploding in use cases, OneBalance’s infrastructure-first approach makes it a critical dependency - much like Ethereum itself became for token issuance.
What’s Next for OneBalance
The Series A funding will drive:
- Expansion of OneBalance’s core cryptography and engineering teams
- Launch of its developer SDK and identity toolkit
- Deep integrations with wallets, DAOs, DeFi platforms, and gaming engines
- Continued research into ZK-native identity attestations and programmable credentials
Expect to see OneBalance play a central role in shaping the Web3 identity standards of the next decade.