Polygon ID Alternative: Hypersign vs Privado ID for Compliant SSI (formerly Polygon ID)
Polygon ID was a decentralized-identity protocol and developer toolkit; it's now an independent company called Privado ID. Hypersign is a full-stack identity verification and compliance platform. Here's how the two actually compare, feature by feature.
Name change, for anyone searching "Polygon ID": In 2024, Polygon ID spun out of Polygon Labs and relaunched as an independent company, Privado ID, to stay neutral across chains rather than tied to one network. The underlying open-source protocol (Iden3) and the zero-knowledge identity model are unchanged. Everything below compares Hypersign to the current Privado ID product, using the Polygon ID name where that's still what people search for.
At a Glance
A Protocol vs. A Platform
Privado ID gives you the cryptographic building blocks for self-sovereign identity. Hypersign gives you a working KYC, KYB, and AML compliance stack, with those same building blocks included.
How It Works for DeFi Protocols & Smart Contracts
Privado ID requires you to write custom zk-circuits, deploy your own on-chain verifier contracts, and run an issuer node before a single credential can be checked. Hypersign's DIDs and Verifiable Credentials are anchored on an on-chain registry with globally queryable, instant revocation status, so a smart contract can check a holder's on-chain credential status directly, or your backend can check it in one call through our hosted API and web widgets, no custom circuit to write, cutting go-live time from months to days.
What Privado ID Actually Is
A zero-knowledge identity protocol for people who build their own wallet stack.
Privado ID (built on the open-source Iden3 protocol) gives holders, issuers, and verifiers a way to exchange W3C Verifiable Credentials and prove claims with zero-knowledge proofs, without ever revealing the underlying data. It's genuinely strong at that one job.
What it doesn't ship as a product: document capture and OCR, biometric face match, KYB and UBO workflows, or sanctions screening. Those are left to whoever builds on top, including issuer nodes and wallet UX you're expected to run or integrate yourself. Its newer Billions Network adds a passport-plus-phone proof-of-personhood layer, but that's a separate consumer network, not an enterprise compliance suite.
What Hypersign Actually Is
A compliance platform that happens to include the same SSI primitives.
Hypersign covers the full onboarding chain: document capture and OCR/MRZ across 189+ countries, biometric liveness and face match, KYB with UBO and director checks, AML and sanctions screening across 1,300+ watchlists, a decision engine, and consent management, delivered over a hosted API, widget, or no-code magic link.
Underneath that, Hypersign also implements W3C DID Core 1.0 (did:hid) and issues verifiable credentials, so reusable, cryptographically provable identity isn't a separate integration, it's the output of the same verification flow your compliance team already needs to run.
Choosing Between Them
Neither Is Wrong. They Solve Different Problems.
The real gap isn't pricing, it's who owns the compliance and consent layer around the credential.
Privado ID's DIDs and Verifiable Credentials genuinely support revocation and self-custody, that part of the stack is real. What it doesn't ship is the layer around it: no document or biometric verification to anchor a credential to in the first place, no AML/KYB screening, and no purpose-bound consent-capture or audit-trail product for the GDPR/DPDP obligations that come with processing identity data at all. Hypersign issues the same open-standard credentials, but as the output of a verification flow that also handles consent, screening, and audit logging, not a separate protocol project you assemble yourself.
Hypersign bundles verification, AML/KYB, consent, and revocable W3C credentials in one $0.75 flow; Privado ID gives you the credential primitives and leaves the rest, including consent capture, for you to build.
Choose Privado ID if
- You're building a Web3-native app and want credentials anchored to a DID your users self-custody in a crypto wallet.
- You have in-house protocol engineers who can run issuer/verifier nodes and manage zk-circuit upgrades.
- Your use case is sybil-resistance, gating, or proof-of-personhood for a token, airdrop, or on-chain governance.
- You don't need document OCR, biometric liveness, KYB, or AML screening as part of the same integration.
Choose Hypersign if
- You need actual regulatory coverage, KYC, KYB, AML, and consent, not just a credential format.
- You want document and biometric verification across 189+ countries without building or hosting your own nodes.
- You still want DIDs and W3C verifiable credentials, just bundled with the compliance workflow, not as a separate protocol project.
- You want to go live in days on a hosted API, widget, or magic link, with one contract and one audit trail.
FAQ
Hypersign vs Polygon ID / Privado ID
Want the Compliance Layer, Not Just the Protocol?
Talk to our team about replacing a DIY DID/VC stack, or adding real KYC, KYB, and AML coverage on top of one you've already built.
KYC · KYB · AML · Biometrics · Consent · DIDs & Verifiable Credentials