OpenAI’s Sam Altman Secures $115M in Funding for Worldcoin Project
Tools of Humanity, the company behind the Worldcoin project, said that the capital raised shall go towards boosting research, growth and other development efforts for the project.
Sam Altman, the chief executive of has recently secured $115 million in fresh Series C funding for the Worldcoin project. Blockchain Capital led the recent funding round along with other investors such as a16z, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global.
Back in 2019, Sam Altman co-founded Worldcoin with the goal of offering digital ID to everyone on the planet. Worldcoin is a decentralized open-source protocol. The project uses a device to scan the iris to confirm user identity. After this, the users receive tokens for free “just for being a unique individual”.
The project is currently in the beta phase and is developed around the Worldcoin token. Also, the Worldcoin project is gaining fast traction while already attracting more than 2 million people.
Sam Altman said that the capital raised shall go towards boosting research, growth and other development efforts for the Worldcoin project. The project also has its first cryptocurrency wallet dubbed World App, which will be useful for the Worldcoin ecosystem.
Tools of Humanity, the company behind the Worldcoin project made the official announcement on Thursday, May 25. Alex Blania, the CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity said:
“As we embark on the age of AI, it is imperative that individuals are able to maintain personal privacy while proving their humanness. In doing so we can help ensure that everyone can realize the financial benefits that AI is poised to deliver”.
Blania further added that the funding round signals the seriousness of the venture. “When we started talking about it three years ago, people really made jokes about us, like we read too many sci-fi books, and that’s now changed,” he said.
Controversies around Worldcoin Project
The Worldcoin Project has recently faced some criticism for perceived privacy risks. Back in 2021, former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden tweeted:
“Don’t catalogue eyeballs.”
Additionally, the project has faced other setbacks as well. Due to concerns over privacy and data, the Worldcoin Project had to halt operations in at least seven countries. There have also been reports that a black market has been spotted in Chinese social media and e-commerce platforms wherein sellers offered interested parties access to KYC verifications for World App.
Worldcoin has clarified the matter adding that there were many instances of such activities on online platforms. They assured that there’s no sensitive data ever accessed by unauthorized parties. Blockchain Capital general partner Spencer Bogart said that WorldCoin has been a widely misunderstood project. Bogart added World ID has a “unique opportunity to establish and scale a new privacy-preserving primitive”. this would allow any application to distinguish between humans and bots.
“With an ability to easily distinguish between machines and humans, we can improve the UX of the internet, enable myriad new features and applications, and help restore trust in digital communities (knowingly conversing with real humans instead of bot armies),” wrote Bogart.
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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
