Sam Altman’s Worldcoin rebrands to World

Worldcoin, the digital identity project supported by Sam Altman, is rebranding to World Network, now simply known as “World.” This transition comes with the official launch of World Chain, a Layer 2 blockchain on the Ethereum network.

At the event in San Francisco, Altman and Blania, the company’s co-founders, presented several new features, including enhancements in the World’s Orb technology. The Orb, initially designed for iris recognition, is receiving a significant upgrade. 

World’s new features

The new version will incorporate Nvidia’s latest Jetson chipset, which offers almost five times the AI processing power with fewer components. This enhancement will enable the extension of the use of Orb via self-service kiosks, which would be a convenient way for people across the globe to access the service. Chief designer Henry Heley said, “People will also be able to summon orbs to their home through an app, much like a pizza.” 

The company’s key product is the Iris Scanning technology that the company employs for the identification of human users from bots. This is even more so given the fact that artificial intelligence is still relatively new. However, World is expanding its approach and giving its users more ways to be recognized. 

Besides the updated Orb, World offered new ways to join its identity project without the use of iris scans.One key alternative is the ability to use an NFC-enabled passport. 

This NFC-based passport allows people to prove their citizenship, age, and passport possession without revealing their identity.  The company is also planning to extend the use of the identity verification technology to other messaging applications like FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom. Additionally,  the company is updating its mobile app to enable “mini-apps” from third-party developers.

World, which was launched in July 2023, has already managed to create a global user base. With more than 10 million signups and 7 million verified users, the network is already popular across the world. Altman and Bania stated that the company aims to increase this figure to 700 million or more, saying, “Every two seconds, a person joins the network, and this is still just the beginning.” After the presentation, the worldcoin token (WLD) dropped by about 5%, and it is currently trading at $2.14.