Worldcoin Launches Controversial WLD Token, Distributes to Over Two Million People Worldwide

WLD Token Addresses Online Identity and Income Inequality

Worldcoin, the highly divisive crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, has officially launched its native WLD token. The ambitious project aims to address two significant challenges in the digital world—online identity authentication and income inequality. 

Worldcoin is utilizing iris-scanning orbs to establish in-person credential verification. Over two million individuals have already been verified using this method, mostly in the Global South, and they will now receive their WLD tokens.

The token launch comes after facing multiple delays as regulatory pressure in the United States intensifies. In a strategic move, Worldcoin has emphasized that its tokens will not be made available in the U.S., citing regulatory uncertainty and the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) tightening grip on the crypto industry.

The Worldcoin announcement today revealed that it will deploy orbs for iris scanning in more than 35 cities across 20 countries. This move is expected to significantly increase the number of verified individuals, with the company aiming to have approximately 1,500 orbs in circulation by the end of the year.

Those verified by an orb will receive 25 WLD tokens initially, followed by periodic grants. Additionally, Worldcoin is introducing a token reservation system on the World App, enabling users to reserve tokens until they can access an iris-scanning orb.

Worldcoin's total supply for the WLD token is set at 10 billion units, with 80% going to users, operators, and ecosystems, and 20% going to the Worldcoin team and backers.

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A Controversial Approach?

The recent migration of Worldcoin to the OP Mainnet, a Layer 2 scaling solution, has paved the way for the official launch of the WLD token. However, the project has faced substantial scrutiny and controversy within Silicon Valley due to its audacious and unconventional approach to solving identity verification and income inequality issues.

Sam Altman has reportedly utilized advances in artificial intelligence to attract investments in "Tools for Humanity," the parent company of Worldcoin. Altman promotes the unique ID system, enabled by the WLD token, as a way to identify genuine users from bots, a growing concern in the age of large language models like ChatGPT. Moreover, it is hoped that this system could help combat fraud if governments decide to implement "universal basic income" initiatives.

The exclusion of the United States from the token distribution has also raised questions about whether co-founders and investors based in the U.S. will be eligible to receive the tokens outside of the country.