

Worldcoin, the Sam Altman-backed digital identification initiative, introduced a serious rebrand as World and unveiled bold plans to develop its consumer base to 1 billion individuals throughout a keynote tackle on Oct. 17.
The keynote, led by co-founders Altman and Alex Blania, marked a big shift within the undertaking’s trajectory after it introduced a sequence of key updates designed to drive world adoption of its decentralized identification platform.
The updates included the launch of World Chain, an Ethereum-secured Layer 2 blockchain, and the revealing of a brand new model of the undertaking’s biometric Orb gadgets.
Accelerating development
The rebranding highlights World Community’s evolving mission, transitioning from its authentic identification verification mannequin to a broader, extra decentralized community.
With 15 million customers at the moment, together with 7 million verified by way of its Orb expertise, the platform has set its sights on dramatically growing that quantity because it seems to be to onboard a billion verified human customers.
Blania, who can be the CEO of Instruments for Humanity, famous that the undertaking is now targeted on scalability and decentralization. He mentioned:
“Right this moment, we’re taking the following huge step in our mission — scaling the World Community to succeed in 1 billion customers.”
World’s new model of the Orb, which scans a consumer’s iris to confirm their identification, is central to the undertaking’s ambition to develop its world footprint. Blania mentioned World will triple its manufacturing capability and increase into new nations, together with flagship areas in Buenos Aires and Mexico Metropolis.
The up to date Orbs shall be made obtainable in public areas comparable to cafes and can even be deliverable on demand, a part of a wider effort to make verification extra accessible. The rollout of those new Orbs is predicted by spring 2025.
World Chain and digital identification
Alongside the growth of its biometric capabilities, World formally launched World Chain, a Layer 2 blockchain constructed on the Ethereum community.
The blockchain is designed to assist tens of millions of customers. On its first day, the undertaking claimed 15 million registrations globally. In line with the corporate, this makes World Chain one of many largest human verification blockchains in existence.
The World App, a central part of the undertaking, is being up to date to Model 3.0. This replace will enable customers to handle their World ID credentials and entry different providers, comparable to World Pay, a decentralized cost system, and World Chat, a messaging instrument.
The app will even introduce video games and a messaging system known as World Chat to additional interact customers and onboard extra individuals. Altman, who additionally leads OpenAI, mentioned World goals to be “the nameless human layer for the web,” serving to individuals distinguish themselves from AI actors.
He additional emphasised the rising significance of human identification verification as AI continues to advance. In line with the OpenAI CEO:
“As AI turns into extra built-in into our lives, having a trusted human verification layer is important.”