Worldcoin is one of the most ambitious and controversial projects in crypto. Co-founded in 2019 by Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI), Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania, the project aims to create a global identity and financial network by scanning people’s irises using custom hardware called the Orb.
The core premise is that as AI makes it harder to distinguish humans from bots online, the world needs a privacy-preserving way to prove personhood. Worldcoin’s solution is iris biometrics — each person’s iris pattern is unique, so scanning it creates a “proof of personhood” without storing the actual biometric data (the system generates a hash). Verified humans receive WLD tokens as a form of universal basic income.
The project raised over $240 million from investors including Blockchain Capital, a16z, Khosla Ventures, and Bain Capital Crypto. It launched its token and World ID system in July 2023 and has scanned millions of people, primarily in developing countries across Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Worldcoin has faced intense scrutiny from privacy regulators worldwide. Multiple countries, including Kenya, Spain, and Portugal, have investigated or temporarily banned the project’s iris scanning operations over data protection concerns. Critics question whether people in developing nations truly understand what they’re consenting to when they get scanned for crypto tokens. The project rebranded its parent entity to “World” and continues to expand its Orb network despite regulatory headwinds, operating on the belief that proof-of-personhood will become critical infrastructure in an AI-dominated world.
