Worldcoin, the digital identity project co-founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, raised $135 million through a direct token sale $WLD
its own, according to the Worldcoin Foundation.
Within 24 hours of the announcement on May 21, the token's value increased by 25%, reaching a three-month high of about $1.55, after previously dropping below $1.24, according to Pinkrypto. Trading volume also exceeded $1 billion, reflecting strong market interest and renewed momentum.
World Assets Limited, a subsidiary of the Worldcoin Foundation, conducted the token sale. According to the Worldcoin Foundation, the sale involved a direct purchase of WLD tokens at market prices by Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, and Bain Capital Crypto, with no 'restrictions or discounts akin to venture capital projects.' The foundation stated that this deal added over 100 million tokens to the circulating supply.
The foundation clarified that the sale process was not like a typical investment round, but rather a direct purchase of liquid tokens at market price, with no discounts.
Worldcoin uses a proof of personhood model, where users scan their iris through an Orb in exchange for WLD tokens sent over. These tokens can then be used within the Worldcoin ecosystem inside the app, according to the Worldcoin whitepaper.
As of May, the project reported over 26 million users, of which 12.5 million completed the verification process through the Orb. According to the foundation, the funding supports World’s long-term mission to provide scalable human verification tools in the era of general artificial intelligence. The network is expected to become one of the first self-sustaining protocols, partially driven by protocol fees.
To meet the growing demand, World_coin is rapidly expanding the Orb infrastructure across the United States, with deployments already underway in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco.
