On July 24, local time, Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, officially released its token WLD。

The company behind Worldcoin is Tools for Humanity (TFH), based in San Francisco and Berlin.。The startup was co-founded by Altman and Alex Blania。

The core product of the project is its World ID, which the company describes as a "digital passport" to prove that its holder is a real person, not an AI robot.。In order to obtain a World ID, users need to register and use Worldcoin's "sphere" (a bowling ball-sized silver ball, or "Orb") for an in-person iris scan.。Once the iris scan verifies that the person is a real person, it creates a World ID。

Iris scanning is not just a verification step, but also an "encryption" process.。When Orb captures an image of a person's iris, it converts the image into a hash code (a string of fixed-length characters, a process that cannot be reversed) and checks the database to make sure that the hash code associated with that iris has not been uploaded, saves the hash code if it is unique, and allows the user to generate a wallet in their app, from which Orb can scan a QR code。This is equivalent to a network of authenticated users, and the database of user data is not associated with real names, only hash codes.。After verification, by default, all images are deleted immediately on the device。

As early as three years ago, the company tested Worldcoin in some places。The company said that between May 2021 and July 2023, more than 2 million people verified their World ID on Orb in more than 30 different countries, and as an incentive, these users had received more than 43 million Worldcoin tokens before the launch.。Now they have started to roll out their services worldwide。

What is the difference between Worldcoin and other cryptocurrencies?？

Since the development of the Internet, in addition to real people who use real identities, there are users and robots who use pseudonyms and so on.。These "mixed" Internet users have made identification difficult and have also led to many frauds and inequalities in the financial sector.。Worldcoin wants to avoid these situations while ensuring a fair distribution of its currency and ensuring that every person on the planet has only one wallet registered in their network.。

Brainia, CEO of Worldcoin, said: "(Worldcoin) first discussed that universal basic income will eventually become a very important thing for the world, and in general, it will be much more important to enter the Internet economy than is currently obvious.。He believes that Worldcoin is part of a larger effort to push for a more unified and fair global economy driven by the internet economy, something that cryptocurrencies apparently failed to do in their first few years.。

For cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Brenia argues: "Bitcoin cannot scale to billions of people.。As we have seen today, it is very expensive because the transaction is slow。"

Worldcoin will also address the critical issue of Web3, the third iteration of the blockchain-powered Internet, where data and content can be decentralized by individuals and groups, rather than controlled by a handful of tech companies.。

In a previous interview, Brenia said that giving "ownership of this new protocol to everyone" would be the "fastest" and "largest introduction to cryptocurrency and Web3" to date, addressing one of Web3's main challenges: the relative dearth of users.。

According to him, Worldcoin will also effectively address another fundamental problem in decentralized technology - the risk of a Sybil Attack, an attack that occurs when one entity in the network creates and controls multiple fake accounts.。This is particularly dangerous in decentralized networks, where fake identities can appear, leading to witch attacks being seen as one of the barriers to mass adoption of Web3.。And Worldcoin's proof of identity through the iris will be able to resist the risks of witch attacks.。

Worldcoin's vision

According to the Worldcoin white paper, the initial supply of Worldcoin is capped at 10 billion pieces, of which 75% will be allocated to the Worldcoin community (most will be allocated to users and some will be allocated to eco-funds and network operations); 9.8% assigned to the initial development team; 13.5% allocated to investors in TFH; remaining 1.7% will be used as a reserve for TFH。Worldcoin starts with a maximum circulation supply of 1.4.3 billion。

Also, by default, Worldcoin's inflation rate is set to 0% unless changed through governance。But the white paper also mentions that Worldcoin's inflation could start as early as 15 years later and is expected to be 1 per year..5%。

For Worldcoin's vision, the white paper mentions that Worldcoin can significantly increase global equality of opportunity by enabling everyone, no matter where they are, to participate in the global digital economy through a universally accessible, decentralized financial and identity infrastructure.。The white paper specifically mentions Worldcoin's use in finance and identity。

On the financial front, Worldcoin could make global remittances nearly instant and borderless, accessible to all.。Moreover, digital currencies are more secure than cash, and cash is more likely to be stolen or forged.。In addition, digital currencies are assets that individuals can directly own and control without trusting third parties.。

In terms of identity, through iris verification, greatly improve the accuracy of identification, the network robot "shut out"。As increasingly powerful AI models will further increase the difficulty of distinguishing between humans and robots, the issue becomes more urgent.。The white paper also highlights the equal distribution of resources。As AI advances, equitable distribution of access and some of the value created through UBI will play an increasingly important role in offsetting the concentration of economic power.。The World Identity Card ensures that everyone is registered only once and that equitable distribution is guaranteed.。

Altman says Worldcoin could help address how AI is reshaping the economy。The program will provide reliable solutions to differentiate AI from humans, while protecting privacy, driving global democracy, and may ultimately show a potential path to an AI-funded global basic income (AI-funded UBI), while reducing fraud incidents when deploying UBI.。

However, he also said that the world with UBI is still a very distant future, and he does not know which entity can release funds, but Worldcoin can lay the foundation for success.。He said: "We need to start experimenting to figure out what to do.。"

Despite Worldcoin's dream, it faces pressure from regulators。Last year, the entire cryptocurrency industry faced a "crisis of confidence," which led to the collapse of industry "bellwethers" such as FTX and Celsius.。Eventually regulators began a series of enforcement actions to crack down on a number of speculative cryptocurrency projects, citing concerns that cryptocurrencies were being used as a tool for speculation and fraud.。Against this backdrop, Worldcoin will not initially list in the US for fear of facing "obstruction" from US regulators.。

Worldcoin attracts legions of investors despite regulatory hurdles。It is reported that investors have injected about 2.$500 million, including venture capital groups Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures, internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried。

Worldcoin has seen a wave of gains after Altman announced the launch of the Worldcoin project。According to CoinMarketCap, Worldcoin went from an initial 1.$70 price jumps to 3.3 dollars, but then gradually fell back。As of press time, 1 Worldcoin newspaper on the site 2.03 USD。