What Cheqd does

Cheqd operates a public self-sovereign identity (SSI) network built on Cosmos SDK and CometBFT, providing decentralized infrastructure for verifiable credentials, decentralized identifiers (DIDs), trust registries, and payment rails for trusted data exchange. The platform supports multiple credential formats including SD-JWT, W3C VCDM, OpenID4VC, and AnonCreds (including Zero Knowledge via ZKCreds), and is positioned for compliance with the European Architecture Reference Framework (EU ARF) under eIDAS 2.0. Core technical components include DID-Linked Resources for on-ledger storage of schemas and revocation registries, Trust Graphs for ecosystem governance, and a native payment layer supporting stablecoins such as USDC and EUROe. The product surface comprises the cheqd Network ledger, cheqd Studio (SaaS), SDKs (Credo, ACA-Py, Veramo, Walt.id), and the Verifiable AI product line targeting AI agent identity.

Cheqd monetizes through two primary streams: (1) on-ledger identity transaction fees paid in $CHEQ tokens, with a burn mechanism (currently 50%, proposed at 99%) targeting equilibrium with network inflation and an initial 1 billion $CHEQ supply; and (2) cheqd Studio SaaS subscriptions plus bespoke commercial models for private network deployments and revenue splits to wallet providers. Go-to-market is API-first and developer-centric, complemented by direct enterprise sales to SSI vendors, consultancies, government agencies, and Web3 companies, and channel distribution through 42+ partner integrations. Target customer segments include financial services (KYC/KYB, AML compliance), e-commerce (age verification, COPPA), travel and hospitality, DeFi/Web3 (Travel Rule compliance), education (verifiable academic records), and verifiable AI ecosystems. Named integrations include FinClusive, Verida, Vouched, Animo, Walt.id, Sphereon, Spherity, and Paradym.

The company is operated by CHEQD FOUNDATION LIMITED, a Singapore-registered foundation entity, with operational presence in London. Founded in 2021, Cheqd has raised approximately $3.3M across two 2021 funding rounds led by Outlier Ventures and TitanBlock. Backers include Evernym and Outlier Ventures, with strategic ties to the Trust over IP Foundation and Hyperledger Indy/Aries communities. The company employs 11–50 people and serves a global market with localized content in five languages. Revenue and ARR figures are not publicly disclosed.

Name

Cheqd

Legal name

CHEQD FOUNDATION LIMITED

Website

https://cheqd.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cheqd provides decentralized identity and payment infrastructure for self-sovereign identity, enabling verifiable credentials, trust registries, and trusted data exchange across financial services, e-commerce, DeFi, and AI agent ecosystems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Identity Infrastructure

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (522320)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Security & Commodity Brokers, Dealers, Exchanges & Services (6200)

akta.pro primary industry

Decentralized Identity (DID) & Identity Wallets (DID methods, DIDComm, identity agents) (FSAPACAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Decentralized Identity (DID) & Verifiable Credentials (BPAMAEAJ), Decentralized Identity & Verifiable Credentials for Finance (DID/KYC Reuse) (FSAGAMAE), Compliance Identity & KYC/KYB for Wallets (on-chain identity, reusable KYC, travel rule tooling) (FSAPACAL)

Keywords

• Decentralized identity infrastructure
• Verifiable credentials platform
• Self-sovereign identity network
• Trusted data payments
• Decentralized identifiers (DIDs)

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Identity Transaction Fees: Network charges for identity operations including DID creation, resource writes, and credential transactions. Fees are paid in $CHEQ tokens with a burn mechanism where 50-99% of fees are burned to manage inflation and target total supply.
2. Trust Registry Verification Fees: Payment gating mechanism where verifiers pay issuers for access to Trust Registry verification results, creating revenue opportunities for credential issuers and incentivizing data release from siloes.
3. Custom Network Pricing: Bespoke network offerings and customizable commercial models for ecosystems and consortia, including revenue splits to sustainably support wallet providers at scale.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Cheqd provides a decentralized self-sovereign identity (SSI) network built on Cosmos SDK and CometBFT, enabling organizations to create decentralized identifiers (DIDs), issue and verify verifiable credentials, and exchange trusted data through privacy-preserving payments. The company sells cheqd Network infrastructure, the cheqd Studio SaaS platform for managing DIDs, Trust Registries, and Payments, and supporting SDKs (Credo, ACA-Py, Veramo, Walt.id) for developers building identity solutions.

Product overview

Cheqd is a decentralized identity and trust infrastructure platform built on Cosmos SDK. The platform consists of cheqd Network as the core decentralized infrastructure providing DID and payment capabilities for verifiable credentials and AI agents, complemented by cheqd Studio as a SaaS interface for DIDs, Trust Registries, and Payments, and Verifiable AI for trusted data relationships with AI agents. SDK packages (Credo, ACA-Py, Veramo, Walt.id) and supporting features including DID-Linked Resources, Status Lists, and Trust Registries enable developers to build identity solutions. The ecosystem supports credential formats including SD-JWT, W3C VCDM, OpenID4VC, AnonCreds (including Zero Knowledge), DIDComm, and EU ARF compliance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• cheqd Studio: SaaS platform for cheqd capabilities including DIDs, Trust Registries, and Payments
• cheqd Network
• Verifiable AI
• ZKCreds
• Creds.xyz

Products and services

• cheqd Network The core decentralized infrastructure providing DID (Decentralized Identifier) and payment capabilities for digital identity, verifiable credentials, agentic ecosystems, and trusted data payments. Built on Cosmos SDK and CometBFT, supporting multiple credential formats and enabling privacy-preserving payments for credential verification.
• cheqd Studio SaaS platform providing access to cheqd capabilities including DIDs, Trust Registries, and Payments functionality without requiring direct node operation. Available at studio.cheqd.net for enterprise customers building identity solutions.
• Verifiable AI Solution providing trusted data and relationships for AI agents/bots and AI content verification, enabling ecosystems to gate and govern themselves with trusted verified AI agents and address AI impersonation and deepfake risks.
• Creds.xyz Consumer-facing credential verification portal where users can manage and share their verifiable credentials across issuer and verifier ecosystems.
• Trust Registries Infrastructure for building trust registries that enable ecosystems to gate and govern themselves, providing lists of trusted issuers, verifiers, and agents with verification payment-gating capabilities.
• cheqd-node The ledger/node component of the cheqd network, built using Cosmos SDK and CometBFT. Provides functionality for token operations, staking, governance, DID creation, credential anchoring, and on-ledger resource management.
• Zero Knowledge Credentials (ZKCreds) Zero Knowledge Credentials implementation on cheqd that enables privacy-preserving selective disclosure and credential verification without revealing full credential data, leveraging the AnonCreds format on non-Indy chains.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces identity verification cost from $5-10 to $0.10 per verification
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• VouchedcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Vouched's Know Your Agent (KYA) suite integrates cheqd's decentralised identity network to bring verified identity to AI agents and bots. Announced May 2026 as partnership to build trust in AI agents through decentralized identity verification.
• VeridacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2023Partnership with Verida to release mobile wallet credential solution for enterprises, integrating FinClusive credentials and cheqd network for financial services onboarding in Web2 and Web3 environments.
• FinClusivecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2023KYC credential integration with Verida wallet and cheqd network enabling compliant financial services onboarding with AML and sanctions list verification.
• AnimocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading partner in building ZKCreds (AnonCreds) implementation on cheqd. Animo led development of ledger-agnostic AnonCreds enabling cheqd to support zero-knowledge credentials.
• Hyperledger Indy/Aries CommunitycoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration with Hyperledger Indy and Hyperledger Aries communities to enable AnonCreds on cheqd and support for ZKCreds format.
• Trust over IP FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDrummond Reed, Director of Trust Services, has provided key endorsement of cheqd's interoperability and SSI value exchange positioning. cheqd participates in ToIP Foundation ecosystem.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Trinsic: Trinsic offers a verifiable credential and self-sovereign identity platform with an API/SDK-first approach for issuers and verifiers. Directly comparable to cheqd's developer-centric, network-based SSI model.
• Indicio: Indicio provides decentralized identity infrastructure, including verifiable credentials and SSI networks. Comparable to cheqd as both sell into enterprise/government SSI deployments.
• Affinidi: Affinidi builds a decentralised identity and verifiable credentials network, with a developer platform and SSI tooling comparable to cheqd Network and cheqd Studio.
• Dock.io: Dock offers blockchain-based verifiable credential issuance and verification. Competes head-to-head with cheqd in the Web3/DID credential infrastructure space.
• Polygon ID: Polygon ID is a blockchain-native decentralized identity and ZK-credential solution on Polygon. Comparable to cheqd's ZKCreds/AnonCreds-based verifiable credential infrastructure.
• Spruce ID: Spruce ID provides DID, verifiable credentials, and OAuth/OIDC SSO infrastructure, often integrated with Web3 ecosystems. Directly comparable to cheqd's identity and credential tooling.
• Civic: Civic provides blockchain-based decentralized identity and reusable KYC tools. Overlaps with cheqd on SSI, KYC reuse, and Web3 identity use cases.

Emerging players

• MATTR: MATTR builds verifiable credential and digital trust technology, with strong standards (SD-JWT, OpenID4VC) alignment similar to cheqd's. Now operating within Ping Identity but continues as a focused identity trust vendor.

Broad incumbents

• Microsoft Entra Verified ID: Microsoft Entra Verified ID is Microsoft enterprise identity platform's decentralised identity offering. Comparable as a verifiable credential and DID solution, but bundled into a much broader enterprise identity suite.
• ID.me: ID.me provides identity verification and reusable digital credentials at scale, particularly for US government and healthcare. Adjacent incumbent solving similar KYC/identity verification pain points cheqd targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cheqd_io
• GitHubgithub.com/cheqd
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@cheqd
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cheqd-identity

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors9 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cheqd