OpenAI boss Sam Altman is close to receiving about $100 million in funding for his plan to use iris scanning technology to create a secure global cryptocurrency called Worldcoin, in what will be a rare bright spot for the industry after a dismal year.
Worldcoin is in advanced talks to raise new funds ahead of its launch in the coming weeks, according to three people with knowledge of the deal.
The group includes existing and new investors, one of the people said. Previous investors in the company include crypto funds from Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, as well as FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman.
Worldcoin was founded in 2019 by Altman and Alex Blania. The company has kept a low profile relative to ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which struck a multibillion-dollar deal with Microsoft earlier this year.
But it remains ambitious, with plans to use eye-scanning technology to create a global identification system that could be used to spend its own global currency, Worldcoin, for free.
A $100 million token sale early last year valued the company’s total token supply at $3 billion, according to technology-focused publication The Information.
But crypto tokens and projects have since suffered 12 months of setbacks. The collapse of Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX last November accelerated a sharp drop in token prices and triggered a wave of crypto company closures.
FTX is backed by venture capital fund Sequoia Capital, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management and Thoma Bravo. Its collapse and the Bankman-Fried scandal prompted many blue-chip funds to scale back exposure to the industry.
“It’s a bear market, a crypto winter. For a project in this space to get so much investment is pretty remarkable,” said a person with direct knowledge of the fundraising.
Worldcoin executives say their approach solves two problems posed by the growing complexity of AI: distinguishing between humans and robots, and providing a universal form of basic income that could offset job losses caused by AI.
Key to the company’s plan is an orb that “uses iris biometrics to establish an individual’s unique personality and then create a digital world ID that can be used anonymously in a variety of everyday applications without revealing the user’s identity,” the company said. express.
Once users establish their identities, they can earn free Worldcoin tokens, the company said.
Worldcoin has been criticized on a variety of issues, most notably the privacy risks posed by biometric scanning. A section of its website is dedicated to addressing concerns about the orb, claiming that the company doesn’t store iris scans and that the device won’t harm users’ eyes.
The company, which has been in beta, is now preparing to launch its blockchain protocol and begin recording transactions within the next six weeks.
Worldcoin declined to comment on the fundraise.