Published
11 months ago on
May 15, 2023
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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Worldcoin project has reportedly secured $100 million in fresh funding. Worldcoin is Altman’s planned iris-scanning cryptocurrency.
Worldcoin also debuted a new crypto wallet last month called World App.
$100 Million Funding Reportedly Secured
Securing $100 million in funding by Altman ahead of Worldcoin’s launch is no small feat, considering it comes at a testing time in the cryptocurrency markets. Many believe that securing such large funding is a feat in itself, given the prevailing market conditions.
“It’s a bear market, a crypto winter. It’s remarkable for a project in this space to get this amount of investment.”
The turbulence prevailing in the crypto space was acknowledged by the head of payment products at Ripple, Brendan Berry, who stated,
“What happened through 2022 was a lot of layoffs, companies going under, and consumer losses. We are coming out of that period with a healthy skepticism separating what was a large amount of hype and speculative investment driving bull market activity from real companies and technologies solving real customer pain points.”
Worldcoin was founded in 2019 by Alex Blania and Altman. The project aims to use eyeball-scanning technology to launch a global identification system that would allow everyone in the world to access cryptocurrencies. Worldcoin has been quietly working on various crypto-related products since its inception. However, the company has been in the shadows of Altman’s other project, OpenAI.
The World App Crypto Wallet
The funding announcement comes hot on the heels of a significant product release by Worldcoin. The company debuted a new crypto wallet called World App. According to the company, World App will help expand the availability of global finance and digital identity. The wallet is designed specifically for the Worldcoin ecosystem and can be used to authenticate a user’s identity through World ID. Wallet users can also receive Worldcoin tokens and send digital currencies to users across the globe. World ID acts as a digital passport, enabling users to prove their identity as unique individuals without sacrificing their privacy and anonymity by divulging excessive personal information. In a blog post, Worldcoin talked about World App, stating,
“World App is a different kind of wallet. It doesn’t support every token or functionality crypto has to offer, and it doesn’t expose every possible configuration. Instead, it is designed by TFH [Tools for Humanity] to focus on a handful of key functionalities for Worldcoin and Ethereum to keep things simple and familiar so anyone can use them.”
Biometric Crypto Verification
Ultimately, Worldcoin aims to bring in some sort of biometric verification standards that are common and at power with banking applications to the larger crypto ecosystem. So far, crypto wallets need to catch up when it comes to biometric verification and its implementation. The company behind the project, Tools for Humanity, aims to retain the accessibility and privacy of cryptocurrencies. These do not need any identification numbers or official documents for transactions. With Worldcoin, Altman hopes to introduce a stronger level of user verification, one that is based on biometric authentication.
To achieve this goal, Worldcoin has developed a biometric imaging service called “The Orb.” However, unlike traditional finance, The Orb does not link biometric profiles to other identifying factors. Instead, The Orb is used as a way to simply verify humannes. All of the data captured is recorded on the Polygon Network. However, it is not linked with other information such as user names, etc.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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