The Cardano Foundation has separated Veridian, its digital-identity project, into an independent company and tokenized its shares on the Cardano blockchain using the network’s new programmable-token standard. Veridian, based in Switzerland, will build tools for governments, businesses and AI agents to prove their identity and specify their online activities. The company is led by Thomas A. Mayfield, a blockchain engineer who previously led decentralized trust and identity solutions at the Cardano Foundation. Veridian plans to seek strategic investors in 2027, the foundation said Thursday.
Veridian is the first company to use Cardano’s CIP-0113 standard, which allows token issuers to impose transfer restrictions and freeze or seize assets to meet regulatory requirements. "People have talked about tokenized equity for years, and now there’s an operating company on Cardano doing it, " Frederik Gregaard, the Cardano Foundation’s CEO and Veridian’s chair, told CoinDesk in an email statement.
"AI agents will need verifiable identity too, " he said. "Veridian can serve that market better as its own company."