Cardano Foundation Spins Out Veridian, Tokenizes Shares Under CIP-0113

The Cardano Foundation has carved out Veridian, its digital identity initiative, into an independent Swiss company as of October 8. The foundation said Veridian's shares have been issued as ledger-based securities under Switzerland's DLT Act and tokenized on Cardano, marking the first asset deployed using Cardano's new CIP-0113 programmable token standard. Veridian is led by CEO Thomas A. Mayfield and focuses on trust infrastructure that allows governments, organizations, and individuals to verify who they are interacting with online and what that counterparty is authorized to do, without relying on a centralized database. The company said it plans to pursue strategic partners and investors in 2027 to scale its work with U.S. state governments, grow its European enterprise business, and expand an issuer network across Asia-Pacific. Veridian's stack is based on KERI and ACDC, open identity standards already recognized by regulators. CTO Fergal O'Connor maintains the core KERI and ACDC libraries. The Veridian Wallet is available on iOS and Android, and the company said it has mapped all 142 requirements in Utah's State-Endorsed Digital Identity implementation guide. Utah's SB 275 took effect in May, making Utah the first U.S. state to enact a state-endorsed, privacy-preserving digital identity program. Mayfield said the internet launched without a built-in way to verify the party on the other side of an interaction, a gap that has grown more urgent as AI agents begin moving money and data for people and businesses. The tokenized share issuance uses CIP-0113, introduced by the Cardano Foundation and the community on October 7. The standard enables issuers to embed rules into tokens, including restrictions on who can receive them and whether they can be frozen, seized, or transferred. These controls are intended for regulated instruments such as stablecoins, funds, and tokenized securities. Veridian's shares represent the first live equity use case on CIP-0113, alongside other tokenized-equity efforts, including Securitize's on-chain U.S. equities initiatives. Frederik Gregaard, CEO of the Cardano Foundation and chair of Veridian, called the move a milestone for the Cardano ecosystem, pointing to Veridian's use of open standards, an in-market product, and a problem governments are increasingly codifying into law. The foundation also framed the spinout against rising identity risk. Identity fraud cost U.S. consumers $27.3 billion in 2025, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. It said AI agents are increasingly acting for individuals and companies without dependable mechanisms to verify or revoke their authority. Veridian's technology is already being used by Masumi, an AI-agent payment and identity network on Cardano built by Serviceplan Group and NMKR. The network allows counterparties to validate an agent's credentials before payment and revoke them if the agent is compromised. Gregaard and Nicolas Jacquemart, the Cardano Foundation's chief legal officer, have joined Veridian's board. With more than 10 U.S. states now watching Utah's digital identity model, the foundation said the spinout positions Veridian to address state-government demand alongside its enterprise and issuer business.