What is Worldcoin? OpenAI CEO’s crypto project explained

Curious about Worldcoin and its connection with ChatGPT? We try to answer all your queries about the organization that aims to become the world’s most extensive identity and financial network.

Worldcoin is a company co-founded by ChatGPT’s founder Sam Altman. At its core, Worldcoin has the World ID project, a privacy-focused “decentralized, human internet with global proof of personhood.”

Apart from World ID, you have a crypto token called Worldcoin, and a mobile app called World App. With the help of World ID and Worldcoin, the company aims to solve two issues – income disparity and online identity authentication.

In a nutshell, Worldcoin is a decentralized identity and payment protocol that authenticates users by scanning their eyes.

What is Worldcoin?

Worldcoin is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency token rolled out by Tools for Humanity, a company founded by Alex Blania and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman.

The project was launched in May 2023 and recorded over 2 million signups by July 14. Altman aims to have 2 billion users, a quarter of the global human population, as its members.

The company plans to share tokens with its users. To be a user, you must sign up on the platform and get verified as a human or get a World ID, as the company calls it.

Once launched, the Worldcoin Token can be traded globally like any other cryptocurrency on various crypto exchanges. Binance, one of the leading crypto exchanges, has already confirmed that it will list the “WLD” token. Aside from Binance, Bybit, Huobi, OKX, and Gate crypto exchanges have also listed the token.

What is World ID?

Worldcoin

According to the company, the core of this project, World ID, is a global identification unique to an individual. It will help authenticate your identification into the web, mobile and decentralized applications.

It will be like a digital passport that can be saved on your phone and could help prove that you’re not a robot while trying to access services and applications that need authentication. World ID aims to help users identify themselves to third parties without revealing their details like contact numbers, email addresses, and more.

Such an ID could come in handy when you want to tell humans apart from AI-generated bots. The company says that AI will soon take over many human roles, and in such a scenario, World ID will help governments and organizations identify humans while providing monetary support.

Interestingly, Sam Altman founded one such company, OpenAI, with ChatGPT as its key product.

Is World ID safe?

Tools for Humanity’s co-founder Alex Blania states that the World IDs will be stored on blockchains, making them highly safe and private. Since Blockchains cannot be controlled, altered, or shut down by an individual, they are deemed highly secure data storage modes.

To create the World ID, you must share your personally identifiable details, including your phone number, email address, and, most importantly, biometrics, with Worldcoin or its parent organization, Tools for Humanity. Your decision is how much you should trust Tools for Humanity with this data.

How to get your World ID

Worldcoin

To get your World ID, you need to download the relevant mobile wallet, World App, linked below:

• iOS
• Android

Once done, the signup process is easy and can be done within a few minutes. Though optional, you can link your mobile number with your account as it helps recover if you lose your phone. Though, the application does allow you to back up your details to your Google Drive, which requires linking and authentication of your Google account.

Once done, you can locate one of the nearest pop-up locations with an eye-scanning physical “orb” to get physically verified as a human. These pop-up locations can be found within the app or on their website.

According to the website, these verification orbs are available in 35 cities across 20 countries, with more promised to be added soon.