The Cardano Foundation has separated its digital-identity project, Veridian, into an independent Swiss company and tokenized most of the new company’s 1 million shares on the Cardano blockchain. The move makes Veridian the first operating company to use Cardano’s new CIP-0113 programmable-token standard for its equity, although the tokenized shares are not being offered to the public.
Veridian becomes an independent company
Veridian is developing digital credentials for people, businesses and artificial-intelligence agents. Its tools are designed to help users prove their identity and authority, as well as define what they are permitted to do online, without depending on a central database that stores the underlying information.
The company is based in Switzerland and is led by Thomas A. Mayfield, a blockchain engineer who previously headed decentralized trust and identity solutions at the Cardano Foundation. The foundation said Veridian plans to seek strategic investors in 2027.
The decision to make Veridian a separate business reflects the project’s focus on digital identity and the growing need to authenticate AI agents acting for individuals and companies, according to Frederik Gregaard, chief executive of the Cardano Foundation and Veridian’s chair. Gregaard said Utah’s digital-identity framework also helped create a reason to establish the company independently.
Veridian’s mobile wallet is already available on iOS and Android. The Cardano Foundation said the company has also mapped Utah’s digital-identity requirements. Utah’s SB 275, which took effect in May, created the state’s State Endorsed Digital Identity Program.
Cardano’s programmable-token standard gets a live use
Veridian’s share tokenization is the first live corporate use of CIP-0113, or Cardano Improvement Proposal 0113. The standard was introduced by Cardano on Tuesday and allows issuers to attach rules directly to tokens.
Those rules can govern who is eligible to receive or transfer an asset. Where regulations require it, they can also allow an issuer to freeze, seize or otherwise restrict a token. Such controls are relevant to regulated financial products, including stablecoins, investment funds and tokenized securities, where issuers may need to apply identity checks, sanctions controls or court orders during transfers.
In Veridian’s case, the framework is being used for equity rather than as a demonstration or theoretical design. The company has 1 million shares in total, and most have been tokenized, Gregaard told CoinDesk. The shares are not being offered to the public, meaning the development demonstrates how the technology can represent company ownership without creating a public sale of the securities.
According to CoinDesk, Gregaard described Veridian as the first company to tokenize its own shares using CIP-0113. The structure gives Cardano an operating example of how its programmable-token rules could be applied to a regulated asset.
Identity credentials for people, companies and AI agents
Veridian uses open technical standards called KERI and ACDC to issue digital credentials. These credentials are intended to let people, organizations and software agents demonstrate identity or authority while avoiding reliance on a single central database.
One existing application is Masumi, an AI-agent payment and identity network built on Cardano by Serviceplan Group and NMKR. The companies say Masumi uses Veridian so a counterparty can check an AI agent’s credentials before making a payment. The credentials can also be revoked if the agent is compromised.
That use case reflects a broader issue created by software agents that act on behalf of people or businesses: systems need a way to establish which agent is acting, what authority it has and whether that authority remains valid. Veridian is being positioned as a specialist company focused on those identity and authorization functions rather than as a project housed within the Cardano Foundation.
The separation also places Veridian’s future financing plans outside the foundation’s nonprofit structure. The company expects to pursue strategic investors in 2027, while its wallet and credential technology continue to be developed for governments, businesses and AI agents.
Cardano market picture
Moneyiar market data at 21:34 on October 8, 2026, showed Cardano’s ADA at $0.2337507261, down 7.85% over 24 hours and 4.82% over seven days. The market figures describe ADA’s price performance and do not indicate a valuation for Veridian or its tokenized shares.
For comparison, Moneyiar data at 21:33-21:34 on the same date showed Gram (previously Toncoin) at $1.3870873363, down 3.63% in 24 hours and 11.47% over seven days; Compound at $23.2999410959, up 1.08% over 24 hours and down 2.04% over seven days; and RedStone at $0.1443551112, down 3.46% over 24 hours and 18.14% over seven days.
