How Yanez Is Stress-Testing the Future of Proof of Humanhood

Yanez MIID (Subnet 54) did not start by trying to reinvent digital identity; it started by trying to break it.

In a recent Hash Rate conversation with Mark Jeffrey, Yanez founder, Jose Caldera, explained how the company built systems to attack KYC infrastructure, generate synthetic identities, and expose weaknesses in fraud detection models. 

That process led to a bigger realization that modern identity systems may already be collapsing under the weight of AI-generated fraud.

1. Yanez Got So Good at Breaking Identity Systems That It Changed the Company’s Direction

Yanez originally built tools to stress-test KYC systems using synthetic identities and deepfake-style attacks. 

The better the company became at bypassing identity checks, the clearer it became that the problem was not just weak security, but the identity model itself. That realization pushed Yanez toward proof of humanhood and proof of uniqueness.

2. The Internet May Soon Be Mostly Bots

Jose argued that most internet traffic could soon come from bots and AI agents rather than humans. Platforms may eventually need systems that distinguish humans from autonomous AI networks at scale. 

In his view, proof of humanhood becomes foundational internet infrastructure in that world.

3. Bittensor Functions as Yanez’s Global Attack Network

Instead of relying on internal security teams alone, Yanez uses Bittensor miners as a decentralized attacker network. Miners are incentivized to break the system continuously and expose vulnerabilities before malicious actors do. 

Jose’s view was that if miners cannot break it, real attackers eventually will.

4. Fraud Looks Different Across the World

Fraud patterns vary significantly across regions, and Yanez believes centralized security teams cannot replicate that diversity internally. By sourcing attacks from miners globally, the subnet gains broader adversarial coverage than most traditional cybersecurity firms.

5. Yanez Thinks Hardware-Based Identity Systems Are Limiting

The conversation naturally turned toward Worldcoin and its Orb device. Jose’s critique was that systems dependent on proprietary hardware create centralization risks and accessibility bottlenecks. 

Yanez instead wants verification systems that work across phones, voice systems, and standard consumer devices.

6. Biometrics Never Leave the Device

One of Yanez’s core principles is that biometric data should never be stored centrally. The system generates cryptographic “biokeys” locally, then destroys the original biometric data immediately afterward. 

Jose repeatedly emphasized that databases that do not exist cannot be hacked or leaked.

7. Your Face Could Eventually Replace Your Seed Phrase

One of Yanez’s product directions focuses on wallet recovery. Instead of relying on static seed phrases, users could regenerate wallet access dynamically through biometrics. Upon delivery, the model could reshape crypto account security entirely.

8. Yanez Had to Redesign Its Incentive Structure

Jose explained that the subnet originally experimented with pure burn mechanics before realizing the system was not generating the adversarial behavior they wanted. Yanez eventually shifted toward cyclical reputation systems where miners build long-term trust tiers through repeated successful attacks and validations.

9. Yanez Is Already Selling Into Enterprise Markets

Outside the broader identity thesis, Yanez already operates as a commercial business. The company currently sells synthetic fraud-testing infrastructure, compliance intelligence products, and politically-exposed persons (PEP) datasets to financial crime vendors and enterprise compliance teams.

10. Proof of Humanhood May Become a Core Internet Primitive

The deepest point from the conversation was that this is no longer just about identity verification. As AI agents begin participating in commerce, governance, and online systems autonomously, the internet may require an entirely new trust layer for proving uniqueness and humanity cryptographically.

Yanez believes that infrastructure does not fully exist yet.

Conclusion

What made Jose Caldera’s conversation interesting was the sequence that led Yanez to its current thesis.

The company began by attacking identity systems, and that process convinced the team that the internet’s trust architecture is becoming outdated in the age of AI-generated fraud. 

Yanez is now building toward a world where proving you are human becomes as important as proving you are online.