Worldcoin

Worldcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency project that aims to create a global digital identity and financial network. Its key offering is World ID, a privacy-focused decentralized identity protocol that utilizes iris scans to verify an individual's "personhood" and uniqueness through a mechanism called Proof of Personhood (PoP). The technology employs custom hardware called the Orb, which captures iris scans to generate a unique iris code for each user without storing any biometric data. Upon successful verification, individuals receive Worldcoin tokens (WLD), the native cryptocurrency of the Worldcoin network.

The Worldcoin project was co-founded in 2020 by Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, alongside Alex Blania and Max Novendstern. The goal was to distribute a new cryptocurrency evenly to every person on the planet, fostering financial inclusion and facilitating applications like universal basic income (UBI). As of July 2023, Worldcoin had amassed over 2.1 million verified users across 35 countries through its Orb network.

Worldcoin's business model involves providing World ID as a secure and verifiable digital identity solution for various online services and applications, addressing challenges like bot armies and fraud in the age of AI. The company has pivoted to position WLD as a governance token for a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that manages the World ID platform.