What Hypercerts Foundation does

Hypercerts Foundation is a California-domiciled nonprofit foundation headquartered in San Francisco that builds open-source Web3 infrastructure for tracking and funding impactful work. Its core product, the Hypercerts Protocol, creates structured digital records (hypercerts) that capture who did what, when, and where, and that accumulate evidence, expert evaluations, and community trust signals over time. The protocol was migrated from an EVM-based architecture to the AT Protocol in 2024, yielding richer schemas, portable records, persistent identity, and lower storage costs; supporting infrastructure includes Certified (identity provider with email/OTP login and embedded wallets), Hyperindex (a Go ATProto AppView exposing records via GraphQL and WebSocket), IdentityLink (EIP-712 attestations bridging ATProto DIDs to Ethereum/EVM wallets), Lexicons (versioned schemas for record types), Certified Group Service for role-based access, and planned StorageLink and EVM Indexer services. Developer tooling includes the Hypercerts CLI, Scaffold App reference implementation, and an Agent API plus Agent Skills for autonomous AI agents. Ecosystem applications built on the substrate include Ma Earth (regenerative land stewardship), GainForest (AI-powered biodiversity verification), Silvi (reforestation tracking), Octant (public-goods funding), Simocracy (governance simulation), and Hyperboards (visualization).

The foundation serves a four-sided ecosystem of project creators, evaluators, funders, and researchers across climate/regeneration, open-source software, scientific research, and community programs; it does not sell a product and operates as a community-led protocol steward rather than a commercial vendor. The only disclosed revenue stream is explicitly labeled 'Open Infrastructure (No Revenue)': the protocol, tools, and documentation are free with no subscription or protocol fees, no funding rounds are disclosed, and the team comprises 1–10 employees. Development is distributed across a named network of 12+ core contributors including Ma Earth, GainForest, Protocol Labs, Octant, Silvi, Regen Foundation, Funding the Commons, Open Source Observer, RaidGuild, Zuzalu, EdgeCity, GreenSofa, Gitcoin, and Optimism. Go-to-market is content- and community-led, executed through documentation, GitHub, Telegram, Bluesky/Twitter, and presence at conferences such as EthCC, Devcon, Schelling Point, and Funding the Commons.

Name

Hypercerts Foundation

Legal name

Hypercerts Foundation

Website

https://hypercerts.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Hypercerts Foundation is a nonprofit building open-source Web3 infrastructure on the AT Protocol that creates living, verifiable records of impactful work to coordinate funding across climate, open-source, research, and community projects.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Web3 Protocol Infrastructure for Impact Funding

NAICS

Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518210), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

NFT Infrastructure APIs & Indexing (NFT data APIs, indexing, search, analytics) (FSAPAFAE)

Keywords

• Web3 protocol infrastructure
• Impact funding platforms
• Decentralized identity systems
• Open public goods
• Digital impact certificates

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Open Infrastructure (No Revenue): Hypercerts is open infrastructure. The protocol, tools, and documentation are freely available with no subscription or protocol fees. This is a non-profit foundation maintaining open public goods infrastructure.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Hypercerts Foundation builds and stewards the open-source Hypercerts Protocol, a Web3 infrastructure layer on the AT Protocol that produces living digital records capturing who did impactful work, what they did, when, and where. The foundation also provides the Certified identity layer, Hyperscan network explorer, Hyperindex GraphQL indexer, IdentityLink wallet bridge, CLI tools, and AI agent APIs that let builders, funders, evaluators, and researchers coordinate impact funding across climate, open-source, research, and community domains.

Product overview

Hypercerts Foundation offers a protocol-plus-ecosystem architecture for tracking, evaluating, and funding impactful work. The core Hypercerts Protocol creates structured digital records of impact work built on the AT Protocol, with Certified providing the unified identity layer. The developer toolkit includes Hyperindex (GraphQL API/indexer), Hypercerts CLI, Scaffold App, Agent API, and Agent Skills for building applications. Ecosystem applications like Ma Earth (regenerative land), GainForest (conservation), and Simocracy (governance simulation) build on the protocol. Infrastructure includes ePDS for identity, CGS for group governance, and planned StorageLink and EVM Indexer for blockchain integration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Certified: Identity provider for the Hypercerts ecosystem providing unified account access across all Hypercerts applications.
• Hyperindex
• Hyperscan
• Certified App
• Hypercerts CLI
• Scaffold App
• Agent API
• IdentityLink

Products and services

• Hypercerts Protocol A protocol for creating structured, verifiable digital records of impact work built on the AT Protocol. Hypercerts capture who contributed, what they did, over what time period, and in what scope, along with measurements and supporting evidence, and are designed for projects, evaluators, and funders in climate/regeneration, open-source, research, and community programs.
• Certified The identity provider for the Hypercerts ecosystem, providing one unified account across all Hypercerts applications. Users receive a DID, PDS, and embedded wallet upon signup.
• Hyperscan

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and domain.

• Ma EarthcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore contributor and regenerative land stewardship platform. Building a crowdfunding platform for thousands of regenerative land projects using hypercerts to connect landowners, funders, and evaluators.
• GainForestcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore contributor and AI-powered conservation platform. Built Hyperindex (originally) - the Go ATProto AppView server that indexes records and exposes them via GraphQL. Uses hypercerts to track and verify biodiversity outcomes with satellite and sensor data.
• Protocol LabscoreTechnology or IntegrationResearch partner providing foundational research and early development of hypercerts as a new primitive for public goods funding.
• OctantcoreTechnology or IntegrationResearch partner exploring community-driven public goods funding and impact-weighted allocation using hypercert data.
• SilvidomainStrategic or Co-development PartnerDomain partner operating a reforestation tracking platform that connects tree planters with funders through verified planting data using hypercerts.
• Regen FoundationdomainStrategic or Co-development PartnerDomain partner advancing ecological regeneration through open infrastructure, community governance, and on-the-ground partnerships.
• Funding the CommonscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal conference series and community at the intersection of public goods funding, open-source, and impact. Co-organizes events where hypercerts are presented and discussed.
• OptimismcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore ecosystem partner supporting public goods funding and impact work in the Ethereum ecosystem.
• GitcoincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore ecosystem partner for public goods funding and quadratic funding mechanisms.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Octant: Octant enables community-driven allocation of staking yield to public-goods projects using impact-weighting. It is a direct peer in mechanism design and is a named research partner of hypercerts, exploring impact-weighted allocation using hypercert data.
• Farcaster: Farcaster is a decentralized social protocol with a Hub-based architecture for portable identity and feeds. It is a direct peer to hypercerts' AT Protocol-based architecture, both aiming to provide open, composable social/data layers.
• Lens Protocol: Lens Protocol is a Web3 social graph built on Polygon with portable profiles and composable follow graphs. It is comparable to hypercerts as an open, decentralized identity-and-records infrastructure layer that third-party apps build on.
• Karma: Karma (formerly the Gitcoin Grants stack) provides project profiles, grant management, and impact reporting for Web3 funding programs. It is a direct peer in the project-attribution and grant-tracking layer where hypercerts also competes.
• Gitcoin: Gitcoin operates quadratic funding rounds for public goods and has its own grants/attribution stack. It is the closest direct peer because hypercerts is explicitly designed to feed attribution data into platforms like Gitcoin Grants, and both target the same funder-and-builder ecosystem.
• Giveth: Giveth is a blockchain-based donations and impact-tracking platform that connects donors, projects, and traceable giving. It directly competes with hypercerts on transparent, on-chain impact attribution for nonprofits and public-goods projects.
• Drips: Drips is a streaming-funding and dependency-based funding protocol for open-source software, with on-chain attribution for contributors. It is a direct peer in Web3-native attribution and recurring-funding mechanics for OSS work.

Broad incumbents

• Optimism (RetroPGF): Optimism runs Retroactive Public Goods Funding across the OP Stack ecosystem. It is a broader incumbent funding public goods at the L2 level, and is a core ecosystem partner of hypercerts, making it directly comparable in mission though much larger in scope.
• Protocol Labs: Protocol Labs (Filecoin, IPFS) is a broader Web3 infrastructure incumbent that funds research on hypercerts as a primitive for public-goods funding. Comparable as a foundational ecosystem builder rather than as a competing attribution product.

Emerging players

• Open Source Observer: Open Source Observer provides open-source contribution tracking and analytics, used in Optimism RetroPGF. It is an emerging peer overlapping with hypercerts' open-source use case, measuring contributor impact in similar ecosystems.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/hypercerts
• GitHubgithub.com/hypercerts-org

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Hypercerts Foundation