The Worldcoin Protocol has been launched on the Optimism Mainnet blockchain. The Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity, who developed Worldcoin, announced the launch today, July 25, 2023. Previously, Worldcoin was on the Optimism layer-2 test network. Now it has fully migrated to the Optimism Mainnet, which is Optimism’s live blockchain network.
The migration also marks the launch of Worldcoin’s native token, WLD. The release of the WLD token has been highly anticipated by the Worldcoin community.
Tiago Sada, who oversees product, engineering, and design at Tools for Humanity, stated in an interview with Decrypt that the Worldcoin launch is a major achievement. He said that Worldcoin has been in beta testing for some time and in development even longer, so the team is thrilled to finally make the full launch happen.
Sada stated that there are currently about 200 Worldcoin Orbs located in a few cities. Over the next few months, the goal is to increase the number of Orbs to 1,500 globally by the end of 2023.
The cities that currently have Worldcoin Orbs are Berlin, Dubai, London, Mexico City, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seoul, and Tokyo.
Sada explained that the Orbs are a piece of technology designed and produced by Tools for Humanity. The Orb technology has been open sourced not only for transparency purposes but also to enable others to create Orbs compatible with the Worldcoin protocol.
Worldcoin’s Orb technology, which scans users’ irises, has been controversial. When the retina scanners were first published in October 2021, famous whistleblower Edward Snowden criticized the concept of scanning people’s eyes in return for cryptocurrency.
Snowden tweeted that the human body should not be used as a means of access. There were other impolite responses as well.
However, Sada stated that the launch represents a major milestone for Worldcoin. It opens up software development kit integration for all developers, expands the global presence of Orbs, launches Worldcoin’s token, and increases the project’s reach overall. Sada said it is a massive leap forward for the entire Worldcoin initiative.
The Worldcoin Software Development Kit (SDK) has now been made available to all developers. The SDK allows for building web and mobile applications using the Worldcoin protocol.
Additionally, the Worldcoin token, which was previously distributed to beta testers, can now be transacted on the blockchain according to Tools for Humanity. The token is fully operational.
Worldcoin was co-founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. It aims to increase economic participation while prioritizing privacy and decentralization. In May 2022, Worldcoin raised a total of $215 million in funding led by Blockchain Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
The Worldcoin Foundation oversees the Worldcoin ecosystem, including World ID, the Worldcoin token (WLD), the Worldcoin Orbs, and the World App.
Sada stated that in the short-term, the Foundation is focused on establishing necessary governance mechanisms to properly price the token long-term. Concurrently, it makes nonprofit decisions to benefit the protocol.
He explained that the World ID and World App are designed to distinguish between humans and AI. This is important when launching a digital universal basic income to prevent fraud.
Sada described World ID to Decrypt as essentially a digital passport – an internet-native global passport that utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to verify users are human.
In cryptocurrency, there is often discussion about wanting to “bank the unbanked.” While this rhetoric has cooled somewhat after recent crypto exchange collapses, Tools for Humanity believes Worldcoin may have the capability to provide financial services to the over 4 billion estimated unbanked individuals globally.
Sada compared the launch to the “Avengers Infinity War” event, saying teams across the board are shipping products rapidly, similar to the epic culmination of the Avengers franchise.
