Sam Altman’s World launches a finance app as it seeks new ways to grow World ID
Freepik, Worldcoin, Ifeoluwa Awowoye
The big picture
World is broadening how it builds its network of verified humans. After initially using WLD to incentivize World ID adoption, it is now embedding the identity credential across internet services and financial products, with World Money adding a new route through payments, stablecoins, and investing.
World, formerly Worldcoin, has launched a super app for transacting with and investing in digital assets.
Quick facts: The application, dubbed World Money, is available across more than 150 countries, according to a Sept. 17 announcement. The app offers a self-custodial crypto wallet and an exchange interface.
- Features and eligibility vary by market, the company said. U.S.-based users can fund their wallets via Stripe, while users in select countries can access a Bridge-powered virtual bank account.
- Full use of the app also requires a World ID, the company’s blockchain-based system for verifying that users are human. However, only a fraction of users across those 150 countries will have access to the full feature set, as more than 1,500 Orbs — the hardware used to verify World IDs — are currently available in just 23 countries.
- World’s current public Orb map shows no listed locations in Africa, one of the markets where the project first launched.
Be smart: World is an open-source protocol built around World ID, World Chain and WLD, its native token.
- World ID is the network’s proof-of-human system. In that system, spherical biometric devices called Orbs scan a person’s iris to verify that they are a unique human, allowing them to obtain a World ID and prove their humanity without revealing their identity.
Between the lines: World Money gives the company a new way to drive adoption of World ID. When World launched as Worldcoin, it encouraged people to verify their identities by offering WLD tokens in exchange for an iris scan.
- The approach drove rapid adoption, particularly in emerging markets, but also brought regulatory and privacy scrutiny. Kenya, one of its earliest markets, eventually suspended World’s operations and later ordered the deletion of biometric data collected by the company.
- The incentive is now different. World Money ties World ID verification to financial services, with verified users eligible for higher rewards on some of the app’s stablecoin products.
Zoom out: World exists on the premise that proof of humanity will become useful across the internet as artificial intelligence gets more entrenched in daily lives.
- The company has begun integrating World ID into existing services, including Zoom, where verified participants can display a Human Badge during video meetings, and Tinder, where World ID is being used as an additional verification layer.