ONE HUMANITY - ONE IDENTITY
An identity based on natural law is a central human right
A self-sovereign digital identity for every human, independent of any single state or company. ULISSES builds the common base layer for states, finance, business and society.
ULISSES in brief
One identity that belongs to the person, not to a state or a company
The Universal ID (U-ID) links a worldwide, decentrally operated register on a blockchain with the principles of self-sovereign identity. The register holds only cryptographic anchors. Personal data and credentials stay in the person’s own wallet and are shared only when the person decides to.
- 850 millionpeople have no official proof of identityWorld Bank ID4D, 2021
- 3.3 billionlack a digital identity for official online servicesWorld Bank ID4D
- 117.8 millionpeople were forcibly displaced at the end of 2025, many without usable documentsUNHCR Global Trends, 2026
- 0personal data records in the ULISSES registerData protection by design
Identity for the digital age
Made for a world of AI, bots and online contracts
Classic ID cards were made for the counter, not for the internet. Copies end up in countless databases, passwords get phished, and AI makes fake people look real. The U-ID is built for digital processes from the start.
Proof of a unique human
Shows that a real, unique person is acting: a defence against bots, fake profiles and AI-generated identities.
Login without passwords
Sign in with a wallet signature bound to your device and your biometrics. Nothing to forget, nothing to phish.
Share only what is needed
Prove “over 18” or “resident in the EEA” without revealing your date of birth or your address.
No tracking across services
You appear to each verifier under a separate identifier, so nobody can merge your data into a profile.
Contracts and payments in one step
The same wallet confirms transactions and signs contracts, with no separate TAN or signature procedures.
Credentials that travel with you
Diplomas, qualifications, vaccinations and family ties stay in your wallet as verifiable credentials.
Fighting misuse
Stopping identity misuse at the root
Documents are stolen, forged or taken away. People reveal more data than necessary and never learn what others do with it. ULISSES removes the levers that make this possible.
No multiple identities
Each person has exactly one anchor in the register. Duplicate registrations and benefits claimed twice become visible, without revealing who the person is.
No forged documents
Every credential is digitally signed. Issuer keys and revocation status can be checked by anyone in the register.
Protection against human trafficking
Taking away someone’s passport no longer takes away their identity. Perpetrators lose a key means of pressure.
No deepfakes in onboarding
Certified liveness detection at registration and device-bound credentials replace vulnerable video identification.
Nothing to steal in one go
There is no central database of personal data that could be hacked, leaked or manipulated.
Resistant to corruption
Register entries cannot be changed or deleted unnoticed, and issuance does not depend on individual officials.
Independent, Security & Self Sovereign
Digital identity for Humans
It is the prerequisite for all private, economic, and public legal transactions, i.e. access to social life. A legal identity offers protection against human trafficking and slavery. In today's digital world, a secure digital identity is a basis for a safe and efficient digital economy and administration. It also facilitates digital life access for people with a traditional legal identity. In the digital space, a particular need for personal data protection arises.
10 reasons for ULISSES
- Millions of people do not have access to any secure legal identity.
- In many states, corruption makes access to any secure legal identity difficult.
- People are deprived of their legal identity and are thus defenceless against traffickers.
- Today's identity solutions are vulnerable to forgery, misuse, and theft, thus encouraging crime and illegal migration.
- National or regional legal identities are often not sufficient to solve supra- and international problem areas.
- The use of traditional legal identities in the digital economy causes a great deal of effort and significant data protection problems.
- Identity solutions issued by profit-oriented private companies lead to conflicts of interest and usually do not receive recognition outside the specific field of application.
- Nowadays, there is little transparency about the use of identity data by third parties in general.
- Nowadays, often more personal data than necessarily has to be disclosed.
- Centrally managed identity registers are susceptible to manipulation and errors about which the persons concerned do not necessarily have to be informed.
ULISSES is the basis for a safe and efficient digital economy and administration. It serves to achieve at least seven of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations “for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”.
Layer 0 for digital identities
Universal ID
ULISSES is a non-profit foundation to create a universal natural law identity (Universal ID U-ID) accessible to all people. In doing so, the well-being of the individuals is just as central as the common good. The Foundation is to have suitable tools developed for this purpose and make them permanently available, as well as take measures for their worldwide dissemination and legal recognition by states and the United Nations.
ULISSES is not building another Identity Solution or SSI - we are building the layer zero for other digital identity projects.
The U-ID complements state eIDs and wallets such as the EU Digital Identity Wallet; it does not replace them. States remain the issuers of nationality, residence permits and driving licences, and can revoke them at any time.
How it works
The register anchors trust. The data stays with the person.
Issuers and verifiers do not need to know each other. Everything a verifier has to check (signature, type of issuer, revocation status) is in the register, while personal data never leaves the person’s wallet.
Issuer
Authorities, banks, schools, UNHCR and aid organisations confirm attributes
Person with wallet
Keeps data and credentials on their own device and shares only what is needed
Verifier
Administrations, financial institutions and companies check proofs without asking the issuer
U-ID register on the blockchain (layer 0)
Identity anchors (hash values), decentralised identifiers, issuer keys, revocation status
No personal data in the register
Register
You capture your biometric features on your own device. The register checks the derived anchor for uniqueness and records it.
Issue
Accredited bodies confirm attributes such as name, date of birth, residence permit or account ownership as signed credentials.
Present
From your wallet, you share exactly the information a process requires, and nothing more.
Verify
The recipient checks signature, issuer and revocation status against the register, without contacting the issuer.
Control
You see every verification request (when, by whom, what scope) and can withdraw permission at any time.
Built on open standards and compatible with the EUDI Wallet and national eIDs. If a device is lost, the person identifies again biometrically and restores the wallet through trusted persons or bodies.
Secure, Privacy-Preserving and Open
Concept of Universal ID
World-wide Civil Register
It has to be one civil register which is accessible for all humans in the world.
This enables the same basic rules of law and register processes for all.
Acknowledgement system for additional register entries.
Decentralised Governance
Based on DLT, also known as blockchain, which is a secure, efficient and trusted technology for registers. With DLT, no central intermediary has to be trusted in for the operation of the register.
A DLT-based register is available throughout the internet.
Definition of Identity by Biometric Features
The identity of a human being is defined just by its biometric features.
The identity is not derived from a legal or national identity, such as the nationality.
Additional features, as name, date and location of birth, parents, have to be added to the register entry according to data protection rules.
Data Protection by Design
No personal data is stored in the World-Wide Register.
Data stays always with the registered Person.
So-called Hash-Functions are used, which basically are one-way encryption functions transforming biometric data into identifiable ones.
Data minimization: Only the pure information needed will be provided
Who benefits
One base layer, many beneficiaries
Because the U-ID is a shared foundation rather than another identity app, states, institutions and companies can build on it and recognise each other’s solutions.
States
Reliable identification even for people without documents, while states keep full sovereignty over nationality, residence and their registers.
- Less identity fraud. Multiple identities, forged documents and benefits drawn twice become visible, because every person has only one anchor.
- More efficient administration. Citizens present verified credentials instead of submitting the same details again; authorities check automatically.
- Cross-border recognition. A common anchor connects national eIDs without forcing states to harmonise their systems.
- Infrastructure without a major project. Countries with incomplete civil registration can build on the register instead of starting from scratch.
- Sovereignty preserved. The state remains the issuer of official credentials and can revoke them at any time.
Refugees & stateless people
With the U-ID, a person’s identity survives the loss of passport, home and access to authorities, because it is bound to the person.
ULISSES proves that a person is unique and stays the same. Decisions on nationality, protection status and the right of residence remain with the competent state, and the country of origin learns nothing about the person through the register.
- Register once, not in every country. Reception, transit and destination states work with the same anchor.
- Faster procedures. Asylum, protection and integration rely on verified, portable credentials instead of papers lost on the way.
- Portable life records. School certificates, qualifications, vaccinations and family ties travel in the wallet.
- Family reunification. Relationships can be proven even when documents from the country of origin are no longer available.
- Targeted aid and early access to a bank account, a SIM card and work, which also relieves the host country’s social systems.
Banks & financial services
Financial institutions replace video identification, ID copies and passwords with verified credentials from the customer’s wallet.
Responsibility for due diligence remains with the institution. This requires supervisors to recognise the credentials, or the U-ID to be coupled with a recognised means such as the EUDI Wallet.
- Onboarding (KYC) in seconds. Authenticity and revocation are checked automatically instead of manually.
- Reusable identity verification across institutions, with the customer’s consent.
- Passwordless login and approvals. The same wallet signs in, confirms payments and signs contracts.
- Ongoing due diligence. A status check in the register shows revocation or expiry; customers supply updated credentials.
- Crypto services. Wallet addresses can be linked to a verified identity; Travel Rule data is available in structured form.
- Less data held. Store the proof of verification, not ID copies, and reduce data protection and liability risks.
Businesses
Do business fully digitally with clearly identified counterparties, without having to collect and protect identity data yourself.
- Contracts without media breaks for rent, leasing, mobile, insurance or energy, concluded and signed online.
- Age and eligibility checks for age, residence or professional licences without seeing or storing ID data.
- Human resources. Diplomas, references and permits as verifiable credentials, also for hires from abroad.
- Business to business. Powers of representation and signing rights bound to the identity of the acting person.
- Platforms and sharing. Verified users mean fewer fake accounts, less fraud and fewer payment defaults.
- Intellectual property. Creators sign articles, compositions, videos and manuscripts, so originals can be proven.
Society
Identity becomes a right for every human, not a privilege that depends on origin and authorities.
- Legal identity for all, as called for by UN Sustainable Development Goal 16.9 by 2030.
- Protection against human trafficking and modern slavery: an identity that cannot be taken away removes a key means of pressure.
- Protection of minors. Platforms can make sure content is age-appropriate without misusing data.
- Participation. Being able to prove who you are opens access to education, health care, banking, work, property and elections.
- Data sovereignty. People see and control who receives which information about them.
- Resilience. Identity persists when states collapse, archives are destroyed or people have to flee.
Governance & roadmap
Non-profit, open and free for every person
Non-profit
A non-profit foundation will carry ULISSES, so that neither profit interests nor a single state control the register. Today, ULISSES is a non-profit association; the foundation will be established in the next phase.
Open source and open standards
Anyone can review the software and connect their own wallets or services.
Free for every person
Registration and use cost people nothing. Set-up is funded by donations and grants, operations by cost-covering fees paid by verifying organisations.
No speculative token
ULISSES does not need a token of its own and builds on existing infrastructure.
Accredited issuers
The foundation sets the rules under which bodies may issue credentials and publishes the list in the register.
Independent oversight
An advisory board for data protection, human rights, technology and financial supervision reviews rule changes and publishes its reports.
Roadmap
- Today
MVP ready
The U-ID exists as a minimum viable product and is being prepared for its operational launch. First private-sector use cases for registration, verification and login are lined up.
- Phase 1
Adoption in the private sector
Spreading the U-ID and putting it to use in business. The foundation is constituted and established.
- Phase 2
Recognition by states
Recognition by first states and UN organisations, and connection to state identity systems.
