What is Worldcoin (WLD)? : A Complete Guide on the New Cryptocurrency

Every day is a new ballgame in the world of Crypto. Be it a bear or bull market, the entry of new crypto coins has become an inevitable part of the digital currency space. While most new cryptocurrencies fizzle out faster than the fast fashion trends, some cryptocurrencies open new doors for the world to explore innovations. One such coin that recently debuted in the crypto market is Worldcoin (WLD).

What makes this new crypto project special is its underlying tech, which feels like a Black Mirror (a famous sci-fi series exploring futuristic technologies) gadget.

If reading that made you curious about Worldcoin, this blog will satisfy all your curiosity. From origin to working, future price prediction to tokenomics, the below blog covers every important dimension of Worldcoin (WLD).

What is Worldcoin (WLD)?

Worldcoin is a crypto project that works to build a decentralized global identity network called WorldID by including every existing human.

Launched by the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania, Worldcoin uses a unique custom biometric device called an “Orb” that verifies the identity of humans without asking them to share their personal information. The Orb scans the eyes of individuals to differentiate them from AI and other humans.

$WLD is the utility token of this Worldcoin network with some governance token abilities. All the participants of the Worldcoin network get the WLD token (s) as an incentive for contributing to the growth of the Worldcoin ecosystem. The token launched on 24th July 2023 as a key component of the project with various utilities.

As per the official whitepaper of Worldcoin, most WLD tokens will go to individuals for simply being unique humans. Apart from this, the WLD token will also contribute to the protocol governance of the Worldcoin network.

If we talk about the technical aspects of the WLD token, it is an ERC-20 token built on the Ethereum Mainnet. After the Worldcoin protocol migrated to the Optimism Mainnet, most WLD transactions took place on the Optimism network. The network still allows token transfers from Optimism to Ethereum if needed through Optimism bridges.

After 15 years of its launch, the WLD token will have a fixed supply cap of 10 billion WLD. Exactly 75% of this supply will be for the Worldcoin community and 9.8% for its initial development team. The remaining WLD supply will go to the investors in the project, who gave funds to support its pre-launch expenses.

Once the 15-year period after its launch completes, the participant can use the governance model of Worldcoin to implement a 1.5% rise in supply every day if needed. The governance protocol of the network will decide the distribution of the newly minted WLD tokens (if any). The platform also hinted at allowing payments in WLD for certain actions and resources in the coming years. When writing, the price of 1 WLD is nearly $2.40.

How does Worldcoin (WLD) Work?

The entire ecosystem of Worldcoin revolves around its privacy-preserving global identity network. It aims to make it possible for Worldcoin users to prove they are real and unique humans without sharing personal information. A key utility of this project is to create a global identity system ready for the upcoming AI era, which can make it challenging to segregate real humans from AI-generated models.

Worldcoin invites individuals to download the World App, the first functional product of Worldcoin. World App enables the creation of a World ID for individuals that will serve as their global identity for multiple platforms and purposes. To make this World ID, the individuals must visit a metallic biometric device, Orb, to verify their World ID. Orb is a spherical ball that captures and encrypts the iris (centre of a human eye) data. Every Orb uses multispectral sensors to verify the humanness of each Orb verification request. Once the Orb captures the iris data, it converts it into a unique digital code. It stores it in the blockchain of the Worldcoin network. The network later uses this data to verify the uniqueness and humanness of any identity. A network of independent local businesses handles these Orb stations.

Once the orb verification of an individual completes successfully, the Worldcoin protocol issues them World ID. This ID allows people to prove they are human to various platforms without disclosing private information. To implement all of it, Worldcoin uses zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) protocol, in which one party proves to another party that a given statement is true without conveying any information to prove it.

All the World IDs issued by the Worldcoin network are person bound, meaning only the individuals owning it can use them. This quality makes it difficult for fraudsters and scammers to steal or misuse these IDs for wrongdoings. The Worldcoin network has also planned to allow individuals to regain possession of their lost or stolen World ID. When writing, Worldcoin has collected over 2 million users and is planning to ramp up its eyeball scanning operations in 35 cities of 20 countries with over 2000 orbs set up. The project plans to integrate other platforms that need human verification so that its users can easily verify themselves on these platforms through World IDs.

The core idea behind such a setup for identity verification is “Proof of Personhood (PoP)”. Let’s understand it as well.

Proof of Personhood (PoP)

Proof of Personhood (PoP) refers to establishing the proof that a person is unique and human. Once they prove this fact, it empowers the individual with a unique human identity without revealing their unique world identity.

The major building blocks of this proof of personhood include:

Deduplication, Authentication, and Recovery. Deduplication ensures that people can only verify once, and authentication ensures that only real owners can use their proof of personhood credentials. Lastly, recovery refers to reclaiming lost and compromised credentials.
Establishing PoP comprises four components: User, Credential, Issuer, and verifier.

User: Someone who seeks to prove their personhood to access specific resources.

Credential: Data that serves as proof for the personhood of individuals by indicating that the user is a human. It can be a government-issued ID or any other identification document.

Issuer: An entity that confirms that certain information about the user is true and grants them a PoP credential.

Verifier: Another entity that examines the PoP credential and its authenticity to grant users access to a certain resource.

The team behind Worldcoin studied all these components necessary to establish a PoP. It then concluded that the only best way to implement a PoP at scale is Biometric verification. For that reason, it introduced Orb, a custom biometric device.

Read on to learn more about Orb.

Orb Scanner

An Orb is a metallic biometric device that gives a futuristic appeal to the entire Worldcoin project. It performs eye-scanning verification of people who apply for a World ID on the World app. The individuals willing to complete this verification need to go to their nearest Orb verification spot to get their eyes scanned.

Currently, only borrowing of Orbs is allowed. When an Operator joins Worldcoin, the project lends him the Orbs and other equipment for a specific period. The protocol does not allow the selling of these Orbs permanently to everyone to make sure that the operators use them only for verification purposes. The project plans to scale the Orb supply and lend it at a lower cost. It also plans to start selling Orbs to operators permanently.

The operators who rent these Orbs get rewards for each successful verification. The Governance mechanism of the project decides the code of conduct for operators and their rewards.

How to Get WLD Tokens For Free?

While the WLD token is available to trade on many platforms, you can get it free by signing up for Worldcoin.

Here are the steps you need to follow to get free WLD tokens:

1. Download & install the World App from the App Store on your mobile.
2. Follow the initial instructions to register yourself in the Worldcoin project.
3. Apply for Orb scanning if you find a local Worldcoin Operator.
4. Follow the prompts displayed on the app.
5. You will receive a WorldID in your World app.
6. After scanning, you will get a unique number and 25 free Worldcoin tokens. This amount may change depending on the project’s future planning.

The Worldcoin network allows users to claim freebies of WLD to make it a fair coin and give everyone an equal chance to build the biggest financial network ever. Since the network rewards free coins to only unique users, it will help it to gain diversified ownership of WLD coins.

With the applicants of World ID, the Orb operators also get free tokens for successful verifications.

What is the Controversy Related to Worldcoin?

It's not even a week since the launch of the Worldcoin (WLD) token, and it has raised the eyebrows of people across different fields.

The key reason behind this controversy is the privacy concerns that come free with the idea of Worldcoin to create a global identity and biometric scanning. Since its informal launch several years ago, Worldcoin has been facing scrutiny around using eye scans to verify identity. Many claim that the company can use the eye images of people generated by Orb for personal benefit. Giving free crypto as an incentive for verifying identity seems gimmicky and bribery.

Even Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, shared his concerns about using biometric data to establish proof of personhood. He pointed out the potential flaws that may lie in Worldcoin’s approach, like the risk of fake identities, data leaks, and fraudulent Orb manufacturing.

Another well-known crypto head, ZachXBT, also raised concerns about the tokenomics of Worldcoin. He highlighted that the low circulating supply of the WLD token and the possibility of its increasing demand may lead to intense selling pressure.

The Globally renowned Intelligence contractor, Edward Snowden, also responded by highlighting the potential threats associated with retaining such sensitive information about millions of people. He said that even if the Worldcoin protocol deletes the iris scans and only saves their hash data, it can also cause severe damage to the privacy of people.

Many experts raised legitimate concerns about the vulnerability of 51% of attacks associated with the blockchain-based nature of the project. They also emphasize the severe security difficulties related to the overall functioning of the World ID.

Is Worldcoin (WLD) a Good Investment?

Despite receiving harsh criticism, WLD is enjoying immense popularity. This popularity has raised a massive rush of investors to grab the WLD tokens right after its launch. After only an hour of its listing, the token surged over 60% and achieved a market cap of $228 million. This skyrocketing initial performance makes it a tempting crypto to have in your portfolio.

If you are older, you can consider including WLD in your portfolio. With its futuristic approach and promising plans, WLD can soon hit new ATH. Many crypto analyst pages predicted a $10 to $12 price for WLD by 2025. It is currently trading at around $2.25. Nonetheless, looking at the immense criticism against WLD and the high volatility in its price, it is advisable to take caution.

End Note

Worldcoin (WLD) is making headlines with its unique goals and functioning. It aims to create a decentralized and open-source global identity network to solve identity verification problems. Famous AI Chatbot founder, Sam Altman, founded it with two other founders. At the core of the Worldcoin lies a metallic eye-scanning device, Orb. This device converts the eye images into blockchain hash and stores it in an immutable blockchain. Being the utility token of the Worldcoin network, WLD is creating a lot of hype among crypto enthusiasts. After knowing enough about this project, investors can decide whether to invest in this futuristic crypto or skip it.