Wakweli raises $1.1 million to certify the authenticity of NFTs and eliminate NFT scams in web3

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have surged in popularity in recent years. In just two years, Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have grown from under $100 million in 2020 to a whopping $40 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, the NFT boom has also attracted a deluge of NFT scams as hackers and fraudsters stole millions from investors.

It’s for this reason that  Geneva, Switzerland-based tech startup Wakweli has made its mission to help eliminate NFT scams in web3 and secure and authenticate NFTs and protect NFT owners. Wakweli is a revolutionary protocol based on a new and decentralized consensus algorithm that issues certificates of authenticity for NFTs to secure the Web3 ecosystem.

Today, Wakweli announced today it has closed its first funding round in the amount of $1.1 million to back its vision of a protocol based on a decentralized consensus algorithm called Proof-of-Democracy (PoD). The round was led by blockchain investment firm Summit.

The fresh capital infusion will help Wakweli to roll out its product offerings, including a community-driven core protocol that enables NFT marketplaces, buyers, and creators to benefit from a provable mark of authenticity for NFTs and other tokenized assets.

“We are incredibly thrilled and fortunate to have onboarded investors and partners who share Wakweli’s vision to increase trust in the web3 ecosystem,” said Co-Founder and CEO Shaban Shaame.

“Collaborating with partners who share the same values and aspirations allows us to work towards a common goal to build a better future through innovation and trust. We appreciate the confidence our partners have placed in Wakweli and are excited to start this journey together.”

Shaame’s sentiments were echoed by Mathieu Vincent, CEO of Summit Mining and Summit Gravity: “We are delighted and proud to be able to contribute to web3 development through ambitious startups that build projects such as Wakweli. It is thanks to the implementation of innovative solutions like Wakweli that trust in the blockchain, crypto and NFT ecosystem will grow to the point where this universe will become obvious to everyone.”

FunFair Ventures COO Lloyd Purser praised Wakweli’s principal use case, stating, “The problem Wakweli is solving is very real and needs addressing, it is a critical part of web3’s journey to mass adoption. The team is hugely experienced and passionate and has shown great trajectory, and we firmly believe that Wakweli will be a key enabler in the growing use of web3 technology in the years ahead.”

Incubated by software firm EverdreamSoft, the Geneva-based Wakweli project was founded in 2021 and aims to become the reference of trust for the decentralized ecosystem, preserving the market integrity of tokenized assets and driving its liquidity.

Co-founder and CEO Shaban Shaame brings a wealth of blockchain gaming experience to the project, as does Co-founder Markéta Korteova, who also serves as the Chief Operating Officer of EverdreamSoft. Wakweli’s third Co-Founder, tech veteran Antoine Sarraute, has been an ardent advocate of decentralized tech since 2011 and has developed multiple innovative projects within the web3, AI, and fintech space.

Wakweli launched its website, whitepaper and Alpha last year. This year, a dedicated foundation will be created to manage the venture, which encourages projects to build on its layers and apply for token grants distributed by its on-chain treasury.

Although NFTs have been advanced as a means of proving asset ownership, NFT scams and cases of copyright infringement have become commonplace. Wakweli hopes to solve such issues by ensuring that digital representations of assets are genuine and unique, i.e. not being represented by multiple tokens across the crypto sphere.

A recent report by global consulting firm BCG predicts that asset tokenization will expand into a $16.1 trillion business opportunity by 2030, meaning provable authenticity is likely to remain a hot topic for many years to come.