EarnOS, a digital advertising startup, said Wednesday it had raised $6 million in a pre-Series A round led by 1kx, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures.

The company's "ero" app is also emerging from beta, to launch in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, according to a statement.

Ero is designed to help brands verify human internet traffic, reduce wastes caused by bots, and reward "authentic digital behavior," said EarnOS.

"At its core, this funding round is about building the Verified Internet," said EarnOS founder and CEO Phil George said in a statement. "Brands are losing over $100 billion a year to bots, fake engagement, and AI-generated noise. Our app, ero, inverts that model by letting brands pay only for real, verified outcomes, while people earn real money for the value they already create online."

EarnOS also said Wednesday that it had secured a "four-year, $12.5 million non-dilutive strategic investment from Verona," which was previously known as XION. EarnOS's ero app is partially powered by Verona, which supports the app's "verification, onboarding, and reward delivery at a global scale."

Separately, on Wednesday, Verona, a Layer 1 blockchain, said it was rebranding from XION. The company has been closely tied to and promoting EarnOS since at least late 2024. Then, Verona said EarnOS enables companies to create "missions" that users can complete in exchange for rewards, with brands like Uber, Baskin-Robbins, The North Face, Sunglass Hut and Lacoste.

"EarnOS creates an opportunity to make brand interactions fun, participatory, and transparent, and to get away from AI slop," Nike Innovation Labs' Senior Content and Engagement Manager John Shiel said.