WORLDCOIN

Name: Worldcoin
Symbol: WLD
Current Market Capitalization: Approximately $925 million as of early April 2025 (this figure fluctuates, check CoinMarketCap for the latest).
Ranking on CoinMarketCap: Around #90-100, depending on current market trends.

Worldcoin’s main purpose, driven by OpenAI’s founder Sam Altman, is to make the global economy more accessible to everyone.
Sam Altman launched Worldcoin with the ambition of creating a universal identity and financial public utility.
According to Sam Altman, Worldcoin is both a blockchain focused on verifying human identity and a foundation for a global universal basic income funded by AI.
Worldcoin, initiated by Sam Altman, aspires to bridge economic disparities and promote financial inclusion through a universally accessible currency.
As co-founder, Sam Altman’s vision for Worldcoin includes creating a reliable way to distinguish humans from AI online while preserving privacy.

Layer Type: Layer 2 – Worldcoin is built on Ethereum, leveraging its infrastructure for security and scalability.
Token Type: Native token within its ecosystem, used for governance, payments, and more.
Consensus Mechanism: Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) since it inherits security from the Ethereum network.

Main Purpose:
- Establishing proof of personhood (via World ID)
- Facilitating a decentralized financial identity network
- Distributing tokens for a potential AI-funded Universal Basic Income (UBI)
- Usable for payments, governance, and digital identity authentication
Main Competitors:
- Civic (identity verification)
- Polygon ID / zkLogin (privacy-preserving identity systems)
- Other crypto projects proposing UBI or Sybil-resistant ID like Proof of Humanity

Advantages:
- Innovative proof-of-human mechanism using iris biometrics
- Global scope and inclusive by design
- Open-source architecture and zero-knowledge proofs for privacy
- Potential applications in democratic governance, DeFi, social welfare, and AI alignment
Weaknesses:
- Serious privacy concerns with biometric data
- Criticized for centralization of Orb manufacturing and operation
- Regulatory uncertainty, especially in the U.S. and China
- Ethical concerns about testing in low-regulation countries (e.g., crypto-colonialism)
Blockchain Trilemma Handling:
- Scalability: Uses Ethereum Layer 2 for better performance
- Security: Inherits from Ethereum’s PoS consensus
- Decentralization: Aims for it long-term via open-source infrastructure and community governance, but currently under criticism for Orb centralization

Main Users:
- Individuals seeking digital identity or free WLD via biometric verification
- Developers building apps integrating World ID
- Researchers exploring AI and digital identity intersections
Major Partnerships / Integrations:
- Supported by Tools for Humanity, backed by major VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz
- Integration with Ethereum infrastructure
- No specific Tier-1 partnerships with institutions yet disclosed
Developer Activity:
- Active development by Tools for Humanity
- Open-source projects and SDKs available on GitHub
- Aim to attract third-party devs building on World ID ecosystem

Maximum Supply: 10 billion WLD tokens
Distribution:
- Airdrops to users verified via Orb
- Grants for developers and operators
- Allocation to team and investors (vesting over time)
Deflationary Aspects:
- No burning mechanism currently confirmed
- Token inflation is theoretically uncapped long-term, which raises concerns about dilution

Biggest Risks:
- Regulatory scrutiny (especially regarding biometrics and data handling)
- Adoption bottlenecks due to limited Orb access and user mistrust
- Security concerns over fraudulent IDs, Orb hacking, or black market sales
Upcoming Developments:
- Global rollout of 15,000+ Orbs by end of 2025
- Expanding utility and integrations for World ID
- Decentralizing Orb manufacturing and governance over time
- More use cases in governance and AI-UBI funding models