The Worldcoin Foundation today announced that Worldcoin, a project co-founded by Sam Altman, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern, is now live and in a production-grade state.
The launch includes the release of the World ID SDK and plans to scale Orb operations to 35+ cities across 20+ countries around the world. In tandem, the Foundation’s subsidiary, World Assets Ltd., minted and released the Worldcoin token (WLD) to the millions of eligible people who participated in the beta; WLD is now transactable on the blockchain.†
“In the age of AI, the need for proof of personhood is no longer a topic of serious debate; instead, the critical question is whether or not the proof of personhood solutions we have can be privacy-first, decentralized and maximally inclusive,” said Worldcoin co-founder and Tools for Humanity CEO Alex Blania. “Through its unique technology, Worldcoin aims to provide anyone in the world, regardless of background, geography or income, access to the growing digital and global economy in a privacy preserving and decentralized way.”
It’s estimated that more than 4 billion people worldwide lack a legal, digitally-verifiable identity. This critically limits participation in the global economy as well as access to critical services like healthcare, government aid and financial services.
If successful, Worldcoin’s global decentralized identity and financial network could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable and privacy-preserving way to distinguish humans from AI online, enable global democratic processes and eventually show a potential path for AI-funded universal basic income (UBI).
What is Worldcoin?
Worldcoin is intended to be the world’s largest, most inclusive identity and financial public utility, owned by everyone. The Worldcoin protocol currently consists of:
- World ID, a privacy-preserving digital identity designed to help solve important, identity-based challenges, including proving an individual’s unique personhood
- Worldcoin token (WLD), where laws allow, the first digital currency to be freely distributed to people for just being a unique human*
- World App, the first World ID-compatible app, developed and operated by Tools for Humanity, that enables payment, purchases and transfers globally using digital assets and fiat-backed stablecoins
Important documents and resources
Along with today’s launch announcement, a series of other important related documents and articles have been released. You can find them at whitepaper.worldcoin.org.‡
