World Keeps Pushing

Sam Altman’s ‘World’ project – an eyeball-scanning, UBI-distributing, human-verifying moonshot – is changing more than just its name as it looks to realign its mission.

Last month, the team unveiled a suite of new strategic moves designed to realize what has grown to become one of the crypto industry's most audacious efforts – one that still has plenty of very real challenges facing it.

Let’s take a deeper look at how the project is progressing 👇

World’s Progress

World is undeniably an ambitious project. However, the Web3 space is filled with bold initiatives claiming to onboard billions into the crypto economy. World stands out as one of the few protocols with an actual strategy to make this vision a reality, even if this strategy has been controversial at times.

As of this writing, World has onboarded 7.5 million unique users from over 166 countries. Over 900 Orbs have been deployed. To encourage new sign-ups, the team offers an immediate airdrop upon verification with an Orb. This reward, in the form of $WLD tokens, supports the onboarding process while also contributing to the gradual decentralization of the network.

Another critical aspect of World’s mission involves collaboration with lawmakers and governments. This has been a bit messy at times for World's developer Tools for Humanity, which has had to convince regulators that its global scale biometrics capture doesn't violate data privacy laws. The company has had mixed results, particularly with some European government agencies.

Given that World’s aim is global, universal, and borderless, establishing positive relationships with global policymakers is essential to communicating the project’s alignment with the public’s best interests. This might be a taller order than any of the technical challenges facing World, but with so-called “bad bots” now making up a third of internet traffic, the team hopes that the value of World’s proof-of-personhood technology becomes clearer to those in power grappling with AI's impact on society.

World's New Tools

World and Tools for Humanity's past couple years have been defined by plenty of trial and error. At their recent product announcement, they aimed to deliver some of those on-the-ground learnings into their latest offerings.

One of the most headline-grabbing announcements was a redesigned Orb with new privacy features, but the team also introduced a suite of new products aimed at enhancing the potential of verified, on-chain users.

The World App, now live, was launched as a so-called "Super App" designed to serve as a foundation for developers building mini-apps that leverage World’s tech to provide sybil-resistant, user-friendly financial tools. Early examples include voting or polling apps that verifiably limit users to one vote each—a valuable feature for DAOs that need fair voting in governance. World has also introduced NFC-chip passport reading, allowing users to link government-issued IDs to their World App experiences.

World also announced the launch of World Chain: a dedicated Layer 2 solution built on the Optimism Superchain. By transitioning from the OP mainnet to their own dedicated L2, the World team can enable a more customized feature set, including fee-free transactions and prioritized blockspace for human users that helps them avoid exploitative MEV practices.

World's sell to new users largely hinges on the free money of airdrops rewards, but their sell to developers depends on building and converting these mercenary users into deeper participants of the World ecosystem.

A Gateway Project?

Web3 aims to redefine what users and businesses expect from the internet. For World to be a true gateway to this shift, a number of stakeholders (users, developers, web2 giants, and regulators) need to be sold on the value of this mission.

Demonstrating that World offers a noteworthy solution for navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape is pivotal to this. This could mean mitigating AI's negative consequences, enhancing online transparency and information integrity, or even supporting fairer elections worldwide.

By merging the power of open blockchain finance with a global identity network, World is aiming to create one of the most impactful Super Apps yet. Significant challenges remain, from scaling Orb manufacturing to achieving widespread public education and regulatory clarity. However, the network’s rapid growth—onboarding a population equivalent to that of a small country—is a testament to its momentum.