Worldcoin (WLD), the identity protocol launched this week by Sam Altman of OpenAI, has the potential to achieve broader global distribution of cryptocurrency than bitcoin, according to Jake Brukhman, the founder and CEO of CoinFund, a venture capital firm supporting the project. Brukhman stated that one of Worldcoin's main goals is to establish a system that can distribute a cryptocurrency to a wider global audience than bitcoin currently reaches. In a recent blog post, Austin Barack, a partner at CoinFund, expressed that Worldcoin has the capacity to onboard billions of users into the crypto market. Before the launch, Worldcoin had approximately two million verified users worldwide, and currently, there have been 941,000 World App wallets created, as reported by a Dune analytics dashboard associated with the project.
Worldcoin primarily functions as an identity protocol, utilizing iris scans, artificial intelligence, and zero-knowledge proofs to verify the uniqueness and humanity of users. The network was officially launched on Monday, which raised concerns regarding privacy and tokenomics.
Nevertheless, the concerns surrounding the project have not deterred individuals from signing up. Altman shared on Twitter that a new user joins Worldcoin every eight seconds across the globe.
During the launch, the protocol transitioned from Polygon to Optimism, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution. Users have been advised to update their apps in order to create Optimism wallets and transfer their beta tokens to the new blockchain.
CoinFund made an investment in Worldcoin during its series A funding round in February 2021, alongside prominent investors such as a16z and Multicoin Capital, according to Crunchbase. Brukhman highlighted that CoinFund was attracted to Worldcoin due to its ambitious global vision and its technology focused on Web 3.