This is a call to the daring engineers, product hackers, and founders who believe digital identity should belong to people, not platforms.

Why a Builder's Grant, and Why Now?

Tonomy began with a simple, radical conviction: your identity is yours, full stop. Over the past two years, we turned that conviction into shipping code: an autonomous ID Vault secured by a zero-knowledge architecture, reusable KYC credentials, and a governance OS powered by the $TONO token. These primitives unlock password-less log-in, instant compliance, and selective disclosure across any blockchain or Web2 API. 

Ahead of the $TONO Token Generation Event (TGE), we’re launching the Tonomy Builders Grant: a milestone-based fund designed to jump-start the first generation of apps, protocols, and marketplaces that will define the Tonomy ecosystem.

What Makes This Grant Different?

1. Milestone-based payouts, liquid at TGE: Funding is unlocked as you ship, prototype, alpha, and main-net, so cash flow tracks real progress. Every tranche converts to liquid $TONO at TGE, with some vesting, giving teams immediate upside and optional exit flexibility.
   
   
2. Integration: We’re looking for projects that deploy on Tonomy infrastructure and integrate our reusable KYC module from the outset. That could be as simple as calling our SDK for age-gated onboarding or as deep as governing smart-contracts with our on-chain credential revocation.
   
   

3. Co-marketing muscle: When you win, we win. Selected teams get joint press releases, conference stage slots, and amplification across our 70k-strong social channels, because distribution is half the battle.
   
   

What We’d Love to See

• Gig-economy platforms that give workers portable, zero-knowledge reputations, think Uber-class UX without the data grab.
  
  
• Centralized & hybrid exchanges that slash onboarding drop-off by plugging in one-click reusable KYC.
  
  
• DeFi tools offering permissioned pools where users prove jurisdiction or accreditation without doxxing.
  
  
• Creator marketplaces where royalties flow only to verified artists, while collectors stay pseudonymous.
  
  
• Any wild card we haven’t imagined, if it pushes self-sovereign identity forward, we’re listening.
  
  

Translation: We have a soft spot for gig and exchange use-cases, but innovation never fits in neat boxes. Surprise us.

What You Get Beyond Capital

1. White-glove technical support
   
   Direct channel to our protocol engineers, early access to beta features like AI-powered identity agents.
   
   
2. Compliance shortcut
   
   Our KYC partners already satisfy FATF Travel Rule standards across 180 jurisdictions. You inherit that coverage on day one.
   
   
3. Go-to-market acceleration
   
   Feature in the Tonomy newsletter, podcast, and partner demo days; plus intros to exchanges, auditors, and liquidity providers prepping for $TONO listings.
   
   

The Application Flow

1. Submit your proposal here.
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2. We will get in touch.
   
   
3. Milestone negotiation, we agree on KPIs that unlock each grant tranche.
   
   
4. Kick-off & public announcement (yes, we shout about you).
   
   

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I build cross-chain?

A: Absolutely, bring your own execution layer. Just route identity verification and at least one transaction type through Tonomy. If you want to take advantage of the seamless UX experiences enabled by in-app on-chain transactions and data signing, then you should deploy on Tonomy Blockchain.

Q: What about existing products migrating in?

A: Eligible. In fact, we’ll fast-track teams that can prove > 10k MAUs and want to port user credentials into the ID Vault.

Ready to Build the Future of Identity?

Identity is the bedrock of every interaction, trading tokens, booking rides, minting art, or proving you’re old enough for a DAO vote. With the Tonomy Builders Grant, we’re seeding a landscape where that identity is finally under user control, wrapped in privacy by default, and interoperable across chains and continents.

If that vision fires you up, apply today. Let’s turn zero-knowledge into widespread knowledge, one shipped milestone, one grant, and one community victory at a time.

The Tonomy Core Team