Foundation Announces $6.4M Round and Availability of Passport Prime, the First Human Authority Hardware Device
Boston, MA, May 21st, 2026, FinanceWire
Fulgur Ventures leads the round as Foundation opens Passport Prime to general sale and makes its KeyOS developer platform available to outside developers.
Foundation today announced a $6.4 million funding round led by Fulgur Ventures and joined by Arche Capital, alongside the general availability of Passport Prime and expanded access to the KeyOS developer platform. The round brings Foundation's total funding to $16.5 million and accelerates the company's expansion from Bitcoin self-custody into identity, multi-factor authentication, and AI agent authorization.
Passport Prime began shipping to pre-order customers in March. With today's general availability, it is open to all buyers for the first time. The device is the first entry in a category Foundation has trademarked as Human Authority Hardware – dedicated, American-manufactured security devices that ensure high-stakes digital decisions require explicit human approval on hardware that no compromised software environment can reach.
The problem is no longer just key storage. AI agents can now act across accounts, wallets, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise systems at machine speed. A browser prompt, phone notification, or policy engine running on the same computer as the agent cannot be the final authority for a consequential action. Before money moves, code deploys, credentials are used, or sensitive data is accessed, the human should be able to review and approve the action on a trusted device they hold.
"Every era has its key management problem. For Bitcoin it was self-custody. For the agentic era it is who actually authorizes the decisions an AI agent takes on someone's behalf," said Zach Herbert, cofounder and CEO of Foundation. "That question cannot be answered by the same computer running the agent. It has to be answered on dedicated hardware, with a display you can trust and an operating system you can inspect. Nothing happens without your approval."
Passport Prime includes a Bitcoin hardware wallet, FIDO security keys, 2FA storage, a secrets vault, and 50GB of encrypted file storage built in. The KeyOS SDK lets developers build anything else they can imagine on the device, from Bitcoin spending policies to identity tools, enterprise signing workflows, and AI agent approval flows.
Developers can start today at foundation.xyz/dev, where Foundation is making documentation, SDK tooling, and the KeyOS simulator available immediately. Developers can build and test apps on a computer without physical Passport hardware, then request a developer unit from Foundation to test on a real device. Foundation plans to launch the KeyOS app store to all users by the end of Q2, giving developers a direct path from SDK development to distribution on dedicated security hardware already in customers' hands.
Existing security hardware was not designed for an agentic world. Hardware wallets were built for signing cryptocurrency transactions. FIDO security keys authenticate users but provide no trusted display for reviewing what is being approved. Enterprise HSMs live in server racks and access-control systems, not in a user's hand. Passport Prime is designed to be the human-facing trust layer for a world where software increasingly acts on behalf of humans.
Passport Prime runs KeyOS, a Rust microkernel operating system Foundation developed over three years. KeyOS is open source and ships with QuantumLink over Bluetooth, a post-quantum-secure encrypted communications protocol that uses ML-KEM and ChaCha20-Poly1305 over a dedicated, isolated Bluetooth chip.
The KeyOS developer platform includes documentation, a simulator, CLI tooling, and a USB-connected MCP server that lets AI coding agents build, take screenshots, and test applications on real Passport Prime hardware. Developers can build security hardware applications the same way they build software today, including with the help of AI.
"Passport Prime secures the keys. You set the policies. KeyOS enforces them," said Ken Carpenter, cofounder and CTO of Foundation. "The SDK lets developers build the apps that put those policies in your hands. The device stops being a box your keys sit in and becomes the hardware root of trust for everything you do online."
Cake Wallet is the first outside team shipping on KeyOS, giving its one million users a best-in-class cold storage experience with the Cake app for KeyOS. Foundation expects additional integrations across Bitcoin, identity, and AI agent workflows throughout 2026.
"At Fulgur, we aim to support Bitcoin companies that can scale and solve real problems for large markets," said Oleg Mikhalsky, Partner at Fulgur Ventures. "Foundation is taking the discipline of self-custody, open source software, dedicated hardware, and explicit user approval, and extending it beyond Bitcoin into identity, multi-factor authentication, and AI agent authorization. We are proud to support Foundation since their early stage."
"I led Foundation's seed round at Polychain in 2022 because Zach and Ken saw further than anyone else in the space. The long game was never just signing devices. It was secure hardware paired with a secure operating system that lets users manage their entire digital lives," said Will Wolf, Partner at Arche Capital. "KeyOS delivers on that vision. The SDK, simulator, and security architecture turn dedicated hardware into the most advanced application platform for personal and enterprise security on the market, and let developers build the next generation of apps for money, identity, and AI authorization."
Passport Prime is available today at foundation.xyz for $349. Developers can access the KeyOS SDK, documentation, and simulator at foundation.xyz/dev.
About Foundation
Foundation builds Human Authority Hardware – dedicated security devices that keep humans in control of high-stakes digital decisions in the agentic era. Its flagship device, Passport Prime, is a programmable security platform running KeyOS, a Rust microkernel operating system shipping with Bluetooth over QuantumLink, a post-quantum encrypted communications protocol. Foundation hardware is manufactured in the USA in an ITAR-compliant facility. Foundation is backed by Fulgur Ventures, Arche Capital, Polychain Capital, and other notable investors.
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