On the first day, it skyrocketed by 90%! OpenAI's "World Coin" goes global, with the ultimate mission of distinguishing between humans and AI.

Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, spent three years collaborating on the Web3 cryptocurrency project WorldCoin, which officially launched today. Is this the ID card of the AI era?

On July 24th, Altman and WorldCoin CEO Alex Blania issued a joint announcement, officially announcing the global launch and promotion of the WorldCoin project. The announcement stated that since the creation of WorldCoin three years ago, they have aimed to create a new identity and financial network that everyone can have, and provide reliable solutions to distinguish between humans and AI:

If successful, we believe that WorldCoin can greatly increase economic opportunities, increase individual empowerment and equal opportunities globally, provide reliable solutions to distinguish between humans and AI, protect privacy, and ultimately lead to a potential path of AI-funded Universal Basic Income (UBI).

WorldCoin consists of a privacy-protecting digital identity (World ID) and a digital currency called WLD (which can only be obtained by humans where permitted by law). We hope to take proactive measures in places where the legal rules are not clear, such as the United States, to benefit more people.

Upon the release of this news, the price of WorldCoin (WLD) surged by 90%, reaching $3.34. The world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, Huobi, and OKEx, have all announced that they have listed WorldCoin for trading.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, as of 12 o'clock local time, WorldCoin's token WLD has risen by 88.4%, with a price of $3.14. The fully diluted valuation of the WLD token has reached $28.84 billion (calculated by multiplying the current price by the total circulation, including tokens not yet in circulation).

Altman emphasized in multiple interviews that the implementation of WorldCoin will further provide a reliable solution to distinguish between humans and AI. Altman and WorldCoin will use iris scanning to ensure that each person can only have one WorldCoin ID. Once users agree to the iris scan, WorldCoin will reward them with cryptocurrency.

Media analysis points out that in the era of ChatGPT, the issue of distinguishing between humans and robots is receiving increasing attention, and this unique ID precisely addresses the market's focus.

According to the WorldCoin website, due to the uncertainty of regulations and the crackdown by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on the cryptocurrency industry, WorldCoin has postponed its launch in the United States.

"Iris Scanning" Continues to Face Doubts

Since the launch of the WorldCoin project three years ago, Ultraman has divided the mission of the WorldCoin project into three parts: creating a unique ID verification program (World ID), issuing related cryptocurrencies, and developing related applications, namely World App.

Previously, the World ID verification program introduced the function of using iris scanning as a means of identification, as well as related encryption services. On May 8th, Ultraman also launched a new product - the encrypted wallet World App.

In the era of large language models (LLMs) and popular ChatGPT, AI is gradually blurring the boundaries between humans and machines. Ultraman believes that blockchain technology can play a role in distinguishing between humans and AI. This new application, when targeting consumers, is both an encrypted wallet and an "ID card" for the AI era.

Worldcoin is a Layer 2 network running on Ethereum, with a token supply limit of 10 billion. Apart from 2 billion tokens reserved for the Worldcoin Foundation and investors, the remaining 8 billion tokens will be distributed free of charge worldwide.

However, such a long road inevitably encounters some obstacles. The primary problem with large-scale distribution is: how to distribute tokens to real "people" rather than code or machines? How to prevent duplicate claims by the same person?

To address this, Worldcoin has launched the largest and most controversial user airdrop activity in the crypto community - the biometric airdrop.

According to Bloomberg, as early as 2021, some people questioned the practice of promising to give away cryptocurrencies to users who agreed to iris scanning. Some quickly saw it as a crypto scam, while others questioned whether a nascent startup collecting biometric data could truly protect the privacy of participants.

Repackaged as a "Human ID Verification" Project

Affected by negative news reports and turbulence in the crypto industry, the WorldCoin project initially faced difficulties.

Privacy and surveillance experts warned that collecting biometric data, even without storing it, is still a risky business. In October 2021, Edward Snowden, the famous whistleblower of the US National Security Agency, also expressed concerns about the WorldCoin ID plan.

According to technology media Coindesk, Ultraman claimed that his cryptocurrency is a form of cryptocurrency that can be equally distributed to everyone in the world, known as the "universal basic income plan." However, influenced by the turbulence in the crypto industry and the recent popularity of artificial intelligence, in March of this year, Ultraman repackaged it as a project focused on "identity verification," announcing that the World ID protocol will allow application developers to utilize its biometric authentication for humans. Worldcoin's product manager, Tiago Sada, from the company Tools for Humanity, stated:

"Everything that has happened in the past six months related to artificial intelligence has helped people better understand this project."

Ultraman previously mentioned that due to the development of artificial intelligence, there is a growing demand for systems that provide "human proof" and for wealth redistribution and a "global governance system." However, in order to truly achieve Ultraman's ideal state, more than one billion people need to join, including those who resist biometric and encryption technologies.

According to previous reports from the media, Worldcoin is also implementing a corporate strategy to promote this technology to other applications for user identity verification. This may be the company's most promising and profitable strategy at present.