What Rarimo Foundation does

Rarimo Foundation operates a permissionless zero-knowledge identity registry protocol deployed as a ZK Rollup on Ethereum, formalized through the ERC-7812 standard co-authored with Vitalik Buterin. The platform enables users to prove attributes such as uniqueness, humanity, citizenship, age, and liveness without revealing underlying personal data, using ZK Passport (NFC scans of biometric passports covering 90% of global passports), the Bionetta client-side ZKML framework, and supporting products including ZK Liveness, ZK Likeness, ZK Graph, and the seedless recovery tool Unforgettable.app. The protocol supports a network of 12 external development teams building consumer applications including RariMe (self-recoverable crypto wallet), Freedom Tool (anonymous voting deployed across Russia, Iran, and Georgia with 60,000+ users), Openion, Agora Citizen Network, Blocksurvey, and United Space.

The underlying technology stack combines zk-SNARKs (Groth16), a ZK Rollup architecture (chain ID 7368 on Ethereum), and a proprietary ZKML framework with circuit-embedded weights optimization that delivers 86-237x faster proving than competing tools. Rarimo distributes its products through the iOS App Store and Google Play (consumer apps), npm packages and GitHub repositories (developer tooling), public REST and GraphQL APIs, and event-driven community engagement at premier cryptography venues. The L2 network reports 28.6M wallet addresses and 193M+ cumulative transactions.

Rarimo's business model is primarily infrastructure-oriented: the core protocol and developer tools are open-source and free, with revenue mechanics linked to L2 gas fees paid in ETH and the RMO governance token used for staking and oracle participation. Monetization of consumer products is nascent — Unforgettable.app operates on a waitlist with subscription pricing undisclosed. The company raised $2.5M in a November 2024 Vision round led by Vitalik Buterin with participation from founders of RiscZero, Gnosis, Aleo, Celestia, and Aztec. No revenue figure has been disclosed, and the foundation appears to be in a pre-revenue phase prioritizing ecosystem growth over monetization.

Name

Rarimo Foundation

Legal name

Rarimo Foundation

Website

https://rarimo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Rarimo Foundation operates a permissionless zero-knowledge identity registry protocol on Ethereum, enabling privacy-preserving verification of passports, biometrics, and liveness for Web3 developers, governance platforms, and end users through mobile apps, SDKs, and ZKML tooling.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decentralized Identity Infrastructure

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

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

akta.pro secondary industries

Privacy, Data Protection & Compliance (zk compliance, GDPR/PII handling) (FSAPAJAM), Smart Contract Wallets / Account Abstraction (MPC/AA, social recovery, paymasters) (FSAPACAB), Decentralized Data Availability & Storage Verification (DA layers, proofs of storage/replication, audit networks) (FSAPALAH), Data Masking, Tokenization & De-identification (HDADAFAI)

Keywords

• Zero-knowledge identity
• Decentralized identity protocol
• ZK passport verification
• Privacy-preserving authentication
• Self-sovereign identity

Headquarters

HQ city

Miami

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Protocol Infrastructure Fees: Rarimo operates as a ZK Rollup on Ethereum, where the native currency is ETH and transaction fees are paid in ETH. The protocol generates revenue through gas fees from on-chain identity registrations, proof verifications, and smart contract interactions on the Rarimo L2 network.
2. RMO Token Governance: RMO is the Rarimo governance token used for staking to become oracles and protocol governance. While the token economics and revenue mechanisms are not fully detailed, token-based governance typically supports protocol treasury growth and aligns stakeholder incentives.
3. Unforgettable.app Recovery Services: The Unforgettable.app product offers self-recovery services via smart contract subscription, allowing users to connect any wallet supporting smart accounts and subscribe to a recovery service. This represents a potential future recurring revenue stream through smart contract-based subscription.

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Rarimo operates a permissionless ZK Registry platform built as a ZK Rollup on Ethereum (ERC-7812), enabling privacy-preserving identity, reputation, and proof-of-attendance statements without revealing underlying personal data. Its core offerings include ZK Passport (converts biometric passports into anonymous digital IDs via NFC scanning and zero-knowledge proofs), Bionetta (a client-side ZKML framework for biometric inference and liveness verification on mobile devices), and end-user applications such as RariMe (self-recoverable crypto wallet) and Freedom Tool (anonymous blockchain voting). Supporting solutions include ZK Liveness, ZK Likeness, ZK Graph, and Unforgettable.app for seedless wallet recovery.

Product overview

Rarimo is a permissionless ZK Registry platform built on Ethereum using ERC-7812, functioning as a ZK Rollup for abstract identity statements. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of privacy-preserving identity solutions: ZK Passport transforms biometric passports into anonymous digital credentials; Bionetta provides a client-side ZKML framework for image recognition and biometric verification; Freedom Tool enables privacy-preserving blockchain voting; and RariMe provides self-recoverable crypto wallet identity. Supporting products include ZK Liveness (proof-of-personhood), ZK Likeness (face verification without biometrics exposure), ZK Graph (private reputation verification), and Unforgettable.app (seedless wallet recovery). The ecosystem extends to apps like Openion, Agora Citizen Network, Blocksurvey, and United Space. The ZK Registry aggregates statements for passports, blue ticks, facial biometrics, and social graphs—enabling cross-chain verification while maintaining censorship resistance and user privacy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RariMe: A self-recoverable identity and crypto wallet application, described as a Worldcoin alternative. Available for download on iOS and Android.
• Freedom Tool
• Bionetta
• ZK Graph
• Unforgettable.app
• Rarimo App
• zk-Image recognition

Products and services

• RariMe A self-recoverable identity and crypto wallet mobile app for Web3 users, enabling passport-based anti-sybil verification via ZK proofs without revealing personal data and supporting seed-phrase-free wallet recovery.
• Freedom Tool A decentralized, transparent, and privacy-preserving online voting tool built on blockchain for anonymous elections, referenda, polls, and surveys using passport and ZK proofs. Powers third-party voting apps across Russia, Iran, and Georgia serving 60,000+ users.
• Rarimo App A mobile application that converts biometric passports into anonymous digital IDs by scanning passports via camera/NFC and generating ZK proofs for privacy-preserving Web3 identity verification.
• Bionetta A client-side ZKML framework for generating secure and private inference proofs using Zero-Knowledge Machine Learning. Enables biometric verification, liveness checks, and image classification on mobile devices with public model weights and private user inputs.
• ZK Liveness A ZKML-powered solution that verifies user presence as a live person, preventing spoofing attacks with 97% accuracy. Used for proof-of-humanity, bot-free airdrops, and anti-sybil solutions without exposing personal biometric data.
• ZK Likeness

Quantifiable outcome

• Proof-of-humanity verification completed in under 40 seconds via ZK Liveness
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

AI capability7 records

Feature10 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Ingonyamacore / flagshipTechnology or IntegrationIngonyama collaborated with Rarimo to optimize the Bionetta ZKML framework, providing their lightweight mobile prover IMP1. This collaboration achieved 175% faster proving speed and 10% improved RAM efficiency, enabling Bionetta to prove large neural networks in just 2.3 seconds on mobile devices.

Scale indicators16 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Worldcoin / Tools for Humanity: Worldcoin is the most direct peer, providing proof-of-personhood via iris biometrics with a World ID. RariMe is explicitly positioned as a "Worldcoin alternative" using passport-based ZK proofs instead of iris scans, targeting the same proof-of-humanity use case.
• Polygon ID: Polygon ID provides self-sovereign identity using ZK proofs on Polygon, with credential issuance and verification for KYC and reputation. Rarimo's Polygon ID integration (bringing Polygon ID to Ethereum) positions them as complementary but competing ZK identity infrastructures targeting similar DApp developers.
• Holonym: Holonym offers ZK-based proof of humanity and identity using biometric credentials and government IDs, with a focus on privacy-preserving authentication for Web3. Highly comparable to Rarimo's ZK Passport in target use cases and cryptographic approach.
• zkMe: zkMe provides ZK-based decentralized identity verification including passport-based KYC and proof-of-humanity for compliance and airdrops. Direct competitor to Rarimo's ZK Passport in the Web3 compliance and Sybil-resistance market.
• Idena: Idena is a proof-of-personhood blockchain using AI-driven "puzzles" to validate humanness without biometrics. Comparable to Rarimo's ZK Liveness for proof-of-humanity applications, though using a different mechanism.
• Civic: Civic provides identity verification and reusable KYC for Web3, with on-chain attestations and identity verification APIs. Targets similar DApp developer and compliance use cases as Rarimo, though Civic uses a more traditional verified-identity model rather than ZK proofs.
• BrightID: BrightID is a decentralized social identity network offering proof-of-uniqueness via a personal verification graph. Comparable to Rarimo's anti-Sybil and proof-of-humanity positioning, particularly for airdrops and DAO voting.
• SelfKey: SelfKey provides self-sovereign identity with on-chain verifiable credentials and KYC for crypto applications. Targets similar Web3 developers needing privacy-preserving identity, though without Rarimo's ZK proof architecture.

Broad incumbents

• Aztec Network: Aztec is a privacy-focused ZK Rollup on Ethereum that provides programmable privacy primitives, with its co-founders having invested in Rarimo. While broader in scope than identity, Aztec competes in the same ZK privacy infrastructure space and could expand into identity.
• Aleo: Aleo is a privacy-preserving L1 blockchain using zero-knowledge cryptography for programmable private applications. Its co-founder invested in Rarimo and the projects share the ZK privacy thesis; Aleo is a broader platform while Rarimo focuses on identity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Rarimo_protocol
• GitHubgithub.com/rarimo

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors2 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 Rarimo Foundation