TL;DR

• Unlock is a protocol for creating onchain memberships, tickets, subscriptions, and other access-controlled items, minted as NFTs, with programmable rules like expiry or renewal.

• Human Passport integration (via Unlock’s Passport hook) adds Sybil-resistant identity checks to Unlock’s purchase flow. The Passport hook stops bots and fake accounts directly at checkout. Projects can require both a valid Unlock key and a Passport Unique Humanity Score from buyers.

• Beyond access control, Human Passport protects airdrops, funding rounds, governance, DeFi compliance, AI systems feedback, and gaming economies.

Bots buy out tickets in seconds. Fake accounts flood communities, hoard memberships, and shut out real participants. This is the reality when access systems lack Sybil resistance.

Unlock makes memberships, credentials, tickets, and subscriptions work onchain as NFT Keys – portable, verifiable, and composable across web3. And with the Passport Hook built in, Unlock provides a reliable measure of a user's legitimacy, preventing Sybil and bot attacks.

Bots fail the check. Real users pass.

What is Unlock Protocol

Unlock is an open-source, community-governed protocol for onchain access control. At its core, Unlock turns memberships, tickets, subscriptions, and other perks into NFT Keys minted from a Lock contract. Those are programmable, allowing for functionalities like renewal, expiration, or transferability setup. You can access programmable properties through Unlock’s UI. But because it’s all onchain, you don’t even need the frontend — you can just as well head to the blockchain explorer where your contract is deployed, connect your wallet, and call the functions directly, no coding experience required! That’s the true protocol power.

Projects can use Unlock to:

• Gate access to online communities, DAOs, events, etc.

• Manage sign-ups, memberships, and subscriptions entirely onchain

• Provide tickets, perks, credentials, certifications, or content to a selected audience

The Unlock ecosystem is governed by its users – any change to the protocol requires onchain approval. Supporting this are the DAO and Foundation, alongside open-source tools like SDKs, dashboards, and integrations, all detailed in the Unlock docs.

The Unlock Keys

With Unlock, Keys are time-based NFTs that can expire, renew, or be granted freely by managers. They are portable, verifiable, and composable across web3, meaning any dapp can check if a wallet holds a valid Key without relying on a central API.

For data visibility, Unlock integrates fully with Dune Analytics, allowing users to pull onchain, verifiable insights about their memberships or ticketing contracts with ease.

For developers, this means access rights live fully onchain, not hidden behind private databases or paywalls. Memberships become ERC-721 tokens – interoperable, programmable, and readable by any application. Easy to integrate, easy to verify.

And it’s Sybil-resistant.

How Unlock uses Human Passport to stop Sybils at checkout

Unlock integrates Human Passport through the Passport Hook, available directly in the Unlock dashboard. Projects can require both a valid Unlock Key and a Humanity Score at checkout.

Flow:

1. A user connects a wallet to purchase or claim a membership (Unlock Key).

2. Unlock runs a check against the user’s Humanity Score in Human Passport.

3. If the Score meets the threshold set by the lock manager → transaction approved.

4. If not → blocked until the user strengthens their Passport with more Stamps.

Setup:

💡 See here for the implementation details.

The Passport Hook runs directly inside Unlock contracts, so verification happens onchain, at the moment of checkout, no scripts or manual review. Sybil resistance is built into the transaction flow itself. Access rights remain portable as NFT Keys, but Passport adds the missing layer: a humanity check.

We’ve went through the integration during our live stream.

The bigger picture: Human Passport use cases

Unlock highlights one clear use case for Human Passport: Sybil-resistant access control. But Passport extends beyond that, establishing a standard layer of Proof of Personhood across web3, as part of the human.tech ecosystem.

Here are the main areas where Passport is already protecting projects and users:

• Airdrops & faucets → stop bot farms from draining rewards and incentives. See Story Protocol, Shape Network, and incentivised testnets case studies.

• Quadratic funding → ensure matching pools reflect real community support. See how we helped protect Gitcoin Grants GG23.

• Community reputation & spam control → keep forums and memberships human-first. Read more in our Discourse integration blog and Lido campaign announcement.

• DeFi compliance with privacy → meet regulatory requirements without exposing personal data. See details in the Human ID documentation.

• Fair governance → enable one-human-one-vote in DAOs and protocols. Check the Optimism’s Citizens’ House blog as an example.

• AI access & feedback → prioritise human input in model training and evaluation loops.

• Gaming economies → prevent bots from exploiting play-to-earn and reward systems. Nine Chronicles exemplify that use case, requiring a Humanity Score of at least one to prevent farming of their NCG rewards.

In each of these domains, Passport serves as the human layer for digital systems. By tying access, rewards, and decision-making to verifiable human participants, it helps projects scale without being overrun by bots or fake identities.

Build with Passport

If you’re building memberships, tickets, incentive programs, or governance systems, add the human layer now.

👉 Start building with Human Passport

About Human Passport (formerly Gitcoin Passport)

Human Passport is an identity verification application and a Sybil resistance protocol with more than 2M users. It enables users to collect verifiable credentials, or Stamps, that prove their identity and trustworthiness without exposing personally identifying information. To date, Human Passport has protected over $430M in airdrop and grant funds.

https://passport.human.tech