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As artificial intelligence continues to dominate headlines, crypto has gotten a boost through an unexpected backdoor: An array of tokens associated with the frontier technology, either by name or association. Chief among these is Worldcoin, a blockchain project cofounded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Buoyed by the announcement of OpenAI’s new video model, Sora, as well as a stronger-than-expected earnings report by the chip manufacturer Nvidia, Worldcoin’s WLD token soared over 115% in the past week to reach an all-time high of $9.11 on Friday. The surge illustrates the influence of the AI sector as the crypto industry continues to find its bearing after a disastrous 2023.
Sam Altman founded Worldcoin in 2019 with Max Novendstern, envisioning an organization that would verify the global population’s “personhood” to build a mechanic for a universal basic income.
After bringing on the physics doctoral student Alex Blania in 2020, the new company came up with the idea of an orb that used biometric scans to log people’s unique identity, with the goal of launching and distributing an associated cryptocurrency as a reward.
The project’s dystopian undertones drew criticism, especially as media reports surfaced of questionable labor, regulatory practices, and privacy concerns. Even so, the explosion of Altman’s other initiative—OpenAI, and its flagship product ChatGPT—renewed interest in the crypto project. Worldcoin began positioning itself as a solution to the rise of AI, with its “proof of personhood” concept uniquely able to separate humans from bots online. Furthermore, its token could create an alternative economic system in the case of job loss precipitated by AI.
Venture capital firms backed the lofty goals of Worldcoin’s parent company, Tools for Humanity, with the firm announcing a $115 million Series C in May 2023. Like other crypto projects, Worldcoin hopes to transition into a fully decentralized protocol, with Tools for Humanity (and its chair, Altman) serving as the steward of the technology.
WLD volatility
When users in specific jurisdictions signed up for an eyeball scan through Worldcoin’s proprietary orb, they were provided with an IOU for its native token, WLD, which finally launched in July 2023. Because of regulatory uncertainty, WLD is not live in countries including the U.S.
While Worldcoin also developed an accompanying wallet called World App, the primary function of its token remains speculation, with trading available on different exchanges. Its token price has generally fluctuated between $2 and $4, with some of its most volatile movement coming in mid-November, when Altman was briefly ousted—and then reinstated—as CEO of OpenAI.
That changed over the past two weeks, as WLD began to rise from $2.50 on Feb. 11 to a new high of over $9. Some of the growth may be attributed to increased Worldcoin verifications globally—this week, Tools for Humanity product head Tiago Sada shared on X that World App is currently the most-downloaded app in Spain. Still, the more likely explanation is the continued explosion of AI, including the reveal of Sora and hype around Nvidia.
Other AI-associated tokens have also seen price spikes over the last week, including the token for the decentralized AI marketplace SingularityNET and the AI app platform FetchAI.
Worldcoin continues to position itself as a hedge against problems posed by AI, such as the spread of bots. In December, it announced that its World ID system would be integrated with major platforms including Reddit, Discord, and Minecraft. The company has also faced regulatory setbacks, including a crackdown by the Kenyan government.
While it continues to onboard new users, Worldcoin’s growth is still far from its goal of onboarding the majority of the global adult population. As of Friday, around 3.6 million people had been verified.
