Worldcoin, the decentralized biometric ID protocol, has officially launched, allowing users to reserve their share of WLD, the incentives-driven token of the protocol, that will be granted when confirming one’s identity using a biometric device called the “Orb.” In addition, Worldcoin also informed that it will be accelerating the rollout of these devices to more than 35 cities.

Sam Altman Backed Worldcoin Launches Officially

Worldcoin, the decentralized ID and wallet protocol backed by Sam Altman, CEO of Openai, announced its official launch on Monday. The project, which had been in its development stages for more than three years, is finally opening its services to the public, expanding its reach and aiming to reel in 2 billion users worldwide.

Worldcoin has two different components: World ID, a decentralized identity protocol that uses individuals’ irises as a “proof of personhood” verification, using specialized devices called “Orbs” for this task, and World App, which allows users to receive incentives in the form of WLD, the native token of the protocol, and transfer and manage these resources with an internal wallet.

On reaching this milestone, Altman stated:

Worldcoin is an attempt at global scale alignment, the journey will be challenging and the outcome is uncertain. But finding new ways to broadly share the coming technological prosperity is a critical challenge of our time.

75% of the initial 10 billion WLD issuance will be granted to users, while Tools For Humanity, the team behind the Worldcoin idea, and its investors, will retain ownership of the remaining 25%.

Orb Acceleration

While users can reserve their share of WLD tokens, they need to physically prove their humanness by getting their irises read by an Orb. To accelerate the growth of the protocol, Worldcoin also announced a rollout of more than 1,500 orbs to more than 35 cities.

More than 2 million users have already signed up using World ID, and with this move, Worldcoin expects to add more than 40,000 sign-ups weekly. The rollout of the devices will be focused on countries that have shown themselves to be receptive to Worldcoin’s proposal. In Spain, Worldcoin will ostensibly expand its operation 3x due to the more than 150,000 users that have already registered in the initial testing phases.

In countries like Brazil and France, the rollout will be more limited. Altman stated that, for the time being, Worldcoin will not be available in the U.S. due to a lack of regulatory clarity.

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