Litentry

Litentry operates as a decentralized, cross-chain identity aggregator, providing a protocol for linking user identities across multiple blockchain networks. Founded in 2019 by Hanwen Cheng, the Berlin-based company aims to address identity redundancy and data fragmentation in the Web3 ecosystem. Cheng, a software engineer with a background in blockchain development since 2015, previously worked at Parity Technologies, a core developer in the Polkadot ecosystem. This experience influenced Litentry's development, which began on Ethereum but later transitioned to Polkadot's Substrate framework to leverage its speed and lower costs.

The company's core technology is a decentralized identity (DID) aggregation protocol that indexes and integrates identity-related data from various sources. It utilizes a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), a secure 'black box' that allows for data processing and computation while shielding the raw user data from view, ensuring privacy. Users manage their aggregated identities through the IdentityHub, an application that provides a unified interface for controlling their data across different blockchains. The protocol produces verifiable credentials that can be used by decentralized applications (dApps) for services requiring identity verification, such as credit scoring in DeFi, Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, and on-chain governance. This allows users to maintain control and privacy over their data, choosing what to share and when.

Litentry's business model is built around its native utility token, LIT, which has a total supply of 100 million. The LIT token serves multiple functions within the ecosystem. It is used to pay for fees when a dApp or user requests a real-time identity credit computation on the network. The token also functions as a reward mechanism, incentivizing third parties to set up and maintain indexed identity databases. Furthermore, LIT is used for staking; users can stake LIT to become an identity registrar or to participate in securing the network as a validator, earning rewards for their contributions. It can also be used as collateral in DeFi lending and borrowing services. The project has received funding through a Web3 Foundation grant and several funding rounds, including a seed round in October 2020 and a listing on Binance Launchpool in February 2021.

Keywords: decentralized identity, DID, cross-chain, identity aggregation, Polkadot, Substrate, Web3, Hanwen Cheng, verifiable credentials, DeFi, on-chain governance, LIT token, Trusted Execution Environment, TEE, IdentityHub, identity management, blockchain privacy, data sovereignty, identity protocol, KYC, credit scoring