About

World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is a digital identity project that aims to provide a “globally inclusive identity and financial network owned by most of humanity” and “open to everyone regardless of country, background, or economic status.”

It is built on a privacy-preserving proof of human identity and an inclusive financial network. The network's core components include World ID, a digital identity verification system, and World Chain, a blockchain specifically designed for real human interactions.

• World App serves as the primary interface for users to access the World Network, providing simple tools for identity management, finance, and community engagement. World ID acts as a proof of human identity, essential for distinguishing real users from AI in online interactions.
• World Chain, the network's blockchain, is tailored to support transactions and interactions between verified human users. This ecosystem aims to create a decentralized network where individuals maintain control over their data and can participate in a global community built on trust and authenticity.

History

In October 2021, Worldcoin was introduced by its co-founders Alex Blania, Max Novendstern, and OpenAI co-founder, Sam Altman. In 2019, the trio formed Tools for Humanity (TFH). TFH is responsible for the initial research and development of the Worldcoin project. Worldcoin was originally conceived to airdrop the WLD token to a billion people, with the goal of developing a global currency that could serve as Universal Basic Income (UBI). However, it faced the challenge of identifying humans amongst bots online, which would have made it difficult to distinguish unique legitimate airdrop recipients.

To mitigate this challenge, the Worldcoin team developed the Orb device, a biometric hardware device that captures an image of a user’s eyes (iris capture). The captured image is converted into a numeric code to generate a unique World ID for the user. The project team also developed the Proof of Personhood (PoP) framework and protocol with an extended version of Ethereum’s zk-solution, Semaphore. Together with the Orb device, the PoP protocol seeks to facilitate human uniqueness verification without revealing a user’s real identity. In October 2021, the project team rolled out prototypes of the Orb devices to twelve countries across four continents (Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia), onboarding the first 25 Orb Operators.

On Oct. 31, 2022, TFH formed the Worldcoin Foundation, a non-profit entity that governs and manages the Worldcoin project toward progressive and eventual community governance. Per the project’s whitepaper, the project’s IPs, smart contracts, SDKs, patents for the Orb device design and iris technology, brand assets, domains, and social media accounts were transferred to the Worldcoin Foundation. By January 2023, Worldcoin surpassed one million sign-ups in Orb-verified users onboarded to the protocol.

Notable events in Worldcoin’s development history are as follows:

• (June 29, 2023) - ID verification provider Okta’s Autho Marketplace added support for Worldcoin “sign-ins” with World ID.
• (July 6, 2023) - Talent Protocol became the first Web3 platform supporting World ID for authentication. By July 2023, World ID sign-ups had surpassed two million users.
• (July 20, 2023) - the World ID SDK was publicly released, enabling developers to integrate World ID into new and existing applications. The same day, the Worldcoin team announced the migration of the WordID and World App to Optimism, deploying operational bridges for the Worldcoin protocol between Ethereum, Polygon, and Optimism.
• (July 24, 2023) - Worldcoin rolled out the first 1,500 fully built Orb devices to Orb Operators across several countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Furthermore, Worldcoin officially launched with its verification operations scaled across 35+ countries. The full list of countries can be seen here.
• (Sept. 18, 2023) - The World App update introduced transaction bundling, which has significantly reduced the application’s transaction costs on Optimism.
• (Oct. 22, 2023) - The Worldcoin Foundation announced an extension of the initial loan agreements with market makers to Dec. 15, 2023, with a reduced loan amount of 75 million WLD. Market makers were also expected to return the loan balance (25 million WLD) to the foundation on Oct. 24, 2023.
• (Nov. 28, 2023) - Worldcoin announced a partnership with Ramp to provide off-ramping capabilities for WLD tokenholders through World App and enable the conversion of WLD into fiat currency.
• (Dec. 13, 2024) - Worldcoin unveiled World ID 2.0, the first major protocol upgrade featuring new integrations with platforms like Reddit and Discord, a new Worldcoin App Store, and three levels of user verification World ID 2.0 also introduced (i) the ability to reset one’s World ID (ii) the deprecation of optional data custody in favor of personal data custody (iii) wallet bridge.
• (Dec. 14, 2023) - Open-sourced IRIS, a new standard in open-source end-to-end iris recognition systems
• (Dec. 16, 2023) - Finalized a new agreement with the initial five market makers, lending a total of 10 million WLD to these trading firms for six months beginning from December 2023.

In April 2024, Worldcoin has announced World Chain, an Ethereum-based Layer-2 within the Superchain ecosystem, slated for launch later this summer.

In March 2025, the project partnered. The partnership focuses on the new ‘Razer ID verified by World ID’ - a proof of human technology that will verify real human gamers for Razer ID.

While in April 2025, Wolrd launched in the United States, with it's debut in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco.

In September 2025, Eightco Holdings announced a $250 million treasury pivot, initiating large-scale accumulation of Worldcoin (WLD) as its principal reserve asset.