A new crypto project co-founded by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman just raised $115 million in additional investment during a series C funding round led by venture capital company Blockchain Capital.
Worldcoin, which is currently in beta, aims to establish a global blockchain-based identification system using people’s eye scans.
The project peoples’ eyeballs to verify their identity and create a “digital World ID” that can be used in different applications as a substitute for revealing the user’s identity.
The project has onboarded close to 2 million people to date. Earlier this month, Worldcoin also launched its crypto wallet for verified individuals.
Spencer Bogart, General Partner at Blockchain Capital, he initially held a negative perception of the project
“I thought Worldcoin was some dystopian Orwellian nightmare, then our team invested hundreds of hours evaluating what the project’s contributors have actually built and I completely changed my mind.
Worldcoin is quite likely the single most misunderstood project in all of crypto (and that’s saying something). At first glance, it appears to be a noxious combination of hardware, biometrics, crypto and AI (artificial intelligence).”
He says it is understandable that people are cautious with projects that involve biometrics and cryptocurrencies, but Worldcoin, in fact, offers an opportunity to improve privacy and security.
“In reality, Worldcoin’s World ID is the most compelling solution we’ve seen to the decades-old Sybil problem.
With an ability to easily distinguish between machines and humans, we can improve the UX (user experience) 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).”
Venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Distributed Global and investment platform Bain Capital Crypto also participated in the funding round.
