The two sides of Worldcoin $WLD

WOO X said it has listed the Worldcoin token $WLD, owned by Worldcoin, an iris biometric cryptocurrency developed by Tools for Humanity, based in San Francisco and Berlin, founded in 2019 by OpenAI's Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania.

With several other top crypto exchange platforms listing WLD - including Binance, Huobi, Bybit, and OKX - prices went up 60% to USDT2.60 from just below USDT1.7 just 24 hours before the official launch.

According to the company’s official website, Worldcoin is “designed to be decentralized, meaning that ultimately, its supervision and decision-making will rest with its community of users.”

Those holding the $WLD token can use it to vote for future projects, pay for applications in the Worldcoin ecosystem, and potentially pay for Universal Basic Income (UBI).

Not for Americans

The company said that WLD is the first token to be globally and freely distributed to people, for both utility and future governance, just for being a unique individual. The token will not be distributed to people in the US. “We hope that, where the rules are less clear, such as in the U.S., steps will be taken so more people can benefit from both,” the company said.

WLD is just one of the tools that Worldcoin is developing. The company is also building World ID - a privacy-preserving digital identity designed to help solve many important, identity-based challenges including proving an individual’s unique personhood, and World App - a fully self-custodial app that enables payment, purchases, and transfers globally using the Worldcoin token, digital assets, stablecoins, and traditional currencies.

“Importantly, Worldcoin—through World ID’s unique digital identity—can play an important role in demonstrating humanness in an online world populated with increasingly advanced artificial intelligence.”

The flip side of the Worldcoin

A quick read on the pulse on social media suggests that hype as reflected in its price is mainly fueled around having Sam Altman, a Silicon Valley figure who is the CEO of OpenAI and former CEO of Y-Combinator.

Many have spoken out against the concept behind the token, linking it to a dystopian cause.

There are concerns about high FDV value, as well as about an aggressive token unlock schedule.

For instance, the available $WLD token on Ethereum and Optimism will be a total of 10 billion total supply, with its current fully diluted valuation sitting in the $25 billion range. With this, volatility may be expected as more trading venues list the token on both spot and perps markets.

Retina data for a token, anyone?

Crypto Twitter pushbacks are also centered on the idea of collecting retina data. In building Worldcoin, Altman’s vision is to use the power of AI to change economic activities, supply and demand, and essentially way of life. So to identify who is actually human, to be eligible for UBI, a scan needs to be done

Meanwhile, a review from Product Hunt highlighted the potential break from Worldcoin’s marketing claims. “Worldcoin seems more an attempt of the (sic) Silicon Valley to take over THE (sic) Bitcoin as the worldwide currency, rather than pushing a "fairer" economic system as its marketing suggests,” said Nicolas Form.

https://www.producthunt.com/products/worldcoin/reviews

Is $WLD in your bag?

Update: Vitalik Buterin's view on proof of personhood

"There is no ideal form of proof of personhood. Instead, we have at least three different paradigms of approaches that all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. A comparison chart might look as follows:"

read his full pov here - https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/07/24/biometric.html

Note: this article was first published in July 25, 2023

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