'Wikipedia of Structured Data' Protocol Secures Backing From Pantera, DCG, 25 Others

Decentralized structured data startup Dirt Protocol has secured investments from major crypto venture players to build a blockchain platform for reliable data, the company announced July 11.

Contributors to the funding round included well-known crypto industry names such as Pantera Capital and Barry Silbert's Digital Currency Group, along with Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam.

A total of 15 venture partners and 11 angel investors participated, the startup reports.

Dirt, which will use the $3 mln it raised to create its eponymous platform, seeks to deploy blockchain technology and a system of token staking to certify the trustworthiness of data and penalize lies.

This, the company says, will come in a form "Similar to Wikipedia" but fully decentralized and without curators.

"There needs to be a way to determine what is true and build trust without a centralized arbiter Dirt is doing to data what Wikipedia did to the encyclopedia."

Blockchain's role in data verification has long been touted, with most schemes nonetheless centering on storage and tamper-proofing.

Last week, decentralized cloud platform DADI launched its mainnet implementation with an eye to increasing the security of hosting services for websites, APIs and apps.