Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Is Live Now
Founded in 2019 by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania, Worldcoin has finally started rolling out its services from today onwards. “If successful, we believe Worldcoin could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes, and eventually show a potential path to AI-funded Universal Basic Income (UBI),” read the official blog post. San Francisco and Berlin-based startup Tools for Humanity is behind this. Worldcoin is using an eye-scanning device called ‘orb’ to tell humans apart from robots and give them tokens. However, there’s a problem. US regulators are concerned about digital assets like cryptocurrencies being misused for speculation and fraud. Because of this, Worldcoin tokens won’t be available in the US at first. Under the Hood Worldcoin is composed of two main components: World ID, a privacy-focused digital identity, and where allowed by the law, a digital currency called WLD, which individuals receive simply for being human. The team hopes that, in places with unclear regulations, like the U.S., efforts will be made to extend these benefits to more people. The price of WLD went up when trading began on Monday. It reached its highest point at $5.29 on Binance, which is the world’s largest exchange. At 1000 GMT, it was trading at $2.49, starting from a low price of $0.15. The total trading volume for WLD was $25.1 million, as reported on Binance’s website. The startup has gathered around $250 million in total and has support from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, and Reid Hoffman. In 2021, the company introduced its token (WLD) to build a more equitable global internet-driven economy. It’s a Layer 2 Ethereum-based cryptocurrency with its own economy. Worldcoin aims to verify human identities online using World ID, combating bots and fake identities with iris scanning. They raised $25 million in October 2021 and another $100 million within six months, pushing the token’s value to $3 billion. In May 2023, they announced an additional $115 million in funding to invest in bot detection, research, and expanding the project, which already onboarded approximately two million users during its beta phase. High Hopes on Crypto Despite concerns about privacy, the ChatGPT maker Altman believes in the potential of crypto. Cryptocurrencies have a history of being unstable, and recent events like the collapse of FTX affected the crypto markets negatively. However, the market is recovering. The future growth of cryptocurrencies is uncertain due to external factors and potential regulations, but overall, the industry is expected to expand. Many leaders are investing in crypto products, which indicates their confidence in the future success of digital currencies. This positive anticipation draws parallels to Greesham’s law, where a stronger currency pushes weaker ones out of circulation.
Despite concerns about privacy, the ChatGPT maker Altman believes in the potential of this crypto project
Despite concerns about privacy, the ChatGPT maker Altman believes in the potential of this crypto project
["Sam Altman", "WorldCoin"]
["ChatGPT", "Sam Altman", "OpenAI", "AI", "WorldCoin", "AWS", "Git", "GPT", "Aim", "GAN", "R", "startup"]
["AI", "ChatGPT", "OpenAI", "Aim", "AWS", "R", "Git", "GPT", "GAN", "startup"]
Shritama (she/her) is a technology journalist at AIM who is passionate to explore generative AI with a special focus on big techs, database, healthcare, DE&amp;I, hiring in tech and more.