Sam Altman's Worldcoin Raises $135 Million—WLD Token Jumps 15%
Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Created by industry experts and meticulously reviewed
The highest standards in reporting and publishing
Strict editorial policy that focuses on accuracy, relevance, and impartiality
Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio.
Worldcoin's parent entity, the nonprofit World Foundation, has injected fresh momentum into its biometric-identity project after selling $135 million worth of liquid WLD tokens at spot price to two of its earliest backers, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Crypto. The direct purchase—explicitly 'not a venture round… a direct purchase of non-discounted liquid tokens,' according to the foundation—adds the same amount of WLD to circulating supply and leaves no lock-ups or preferential terms on the table.
Worldcoin Rakes In $135 Million
The sale is meant to bankroll a rapid expansion of Worldcoin's iris-scanning 'Orb' hardware in the United States—still the project's toughest regulatory theater—and to keep pace with surging demand abroad. 'To date, more than 26 million users participate in the World network and more than 12.5 million people have an Orb-verified World ID,' the foundation said in its press release, adding that the capital will help the network become 'one of the first self-sustaining protocols.'
Related Reading
Andreessen Horowitz's participation is consistent with its early role in the project. The venture firm was a lead investor in Tools for Humanity—the company that incubated Worldcoin—during its 2021 Series A, making it a foundational backer of the ecosystem even before the World Foundation was established.
Market observers were struck by the size and terms of the buy. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted on X that 'a16z and Bain just bought $135 m of Worldcoin (WLD) at the current market price … a price that is down 90% over the past 14 months. I'm not sure I've ever seen something like that. Intriguing tbh.' When a user suggested the purchase might simply be a 'look at this thing that Sam Altman is involved with that's so cheap,' Hougan replied, 'yes, could be.'
Worldcoin casts its 'proof-of-personhood' scheme as a necessary counterweight to the acceleration of artificial general intelligence. The foundation insists that identity verification tools 'should scale at a similar pace to help prepare humanity for the AGI era,' and says the latest funding will be deployed primarily to manufacture more Orbs, subsidize US city roll-outs, and refine the protocol's fee model.
Related Reading
With venture capital titans effectively doubling down at market price—and doing so after a near-90% drawdown—the trade is being interpreted as a high-conviction signal that the biometric-identity narrative may be poised for a second act. Whether that confidence can overcome regulatory headwinds and lingering privacy concerns will define the next chapter for Sam Altman's most controversial crypto experiment.
WLD Chart Check
A weekly chart of WLD/USDT (Binance) shows price rebounding in a V-bottom manner from the low at $0.57—the 0-Fib anchor in the current retracement grid—and pushing into the cluster of moving averages that have capped every rally since the beginning of the year.
The 20-week EMA ($1.27) is the immediate hurdle; clearing it would expose the 50-week EMA at $1.87 and then the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement at $3.27.The psychologically weighty $5 region around the 0.382 level could come afterwards.
Read More BNB Price Rebound Possible: Can It Climb Back to $720?
Notably, momentum has brightened: the weekly RSI is curling upwards, while higher volume bars confirm fresh dip-buying interest. Still, the longer-term structure remains decisively bearish so long as price trades beneath the $1.33-$1.41 resistance area.
At press time, WLD traded at $1.337.
WLD price hovers below key resistance area, 1-week chart | Source :WLDUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Why Does Big Tech Produce So Few CEOs?
Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world
Business Insider
8 hours ago
- Business Insider
Google's AI CEO explains why he's not interested in taking LSD in his quest to understand 'the nature of reality'
The Google DeepMind CEO said he's never taken LSD and doesn't want to. In a recent interview with Wired's Steven Levy, the AI boss was asked about his pursuit of understanding the "nature of reality," as his X bio states. More specifically, Hassabis was asked if acid had ever helped him get a glimpse of the nature of reality. The short answer is no. "I didn't do it like that," Hassabis said. "I just did it through my gaming and reading a hell of a lot when I was a kid, both science fiction and science." Hassabis set out as a child to understand the universe better, and the quest is ongoing. He's hoping AI and, eventually, artificial general intelligence will help reach his goal. While some tech leaders have talked about using psychedelics, Hassabis said he's "too worried about the effects on the brain." "I've sort of finely tuned my mind to work in this way," he said. "I need it for where I'm going." Google DeepMind is the research lab behind the company's AI projects, including chatbot Gemini. Hassabis is leading Google's charge toward the AI race's holy grail — AGI. Google DeepMind didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Over the years, Silicon Valley has embraced the use of psychedelics, such as microdosing to improve productivity or going on ayahuasca retreats. Some investors have banked on their popularity, backing psychedelic startups that are seeking to turn the drugs into medical treatments or expand the industry in other ways. However, that's not a green light to take acid or magic mushrooms on the clock. In 2021, CEO Justin Zhu, cofounder and CEO of a startup called Iterable, said he was fired for microdosing LSD before a meeting. He hoped it would improve his focus, he said. Some of Hassabis's tech peers have been open about using LSD as established bosses or as college students. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, for example, took acid for the first time as a teenager, according to his memoir, " Source Code: My Beginnings." For Gates, dropping acid was exhilarating at first and a "cosmic" experience when he did it again. However, he ended up thinking his brain could delete his memories like a computer. "That would be one of the last times I would do LSD," Gates said. It didn't have that effect on Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that it was "a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life." OpenAI's Sam Altman has also spoken positively about his experience with psychedelics. Although he didn't specify exactly what drug he took, he said it changed him from a "very anxious, unhappy person" to "calm." "If you had told me that, like, one weekend-long retreat in Mexico was going to significantly change that, I would have said absolutely not," Altman said. "And it really did."
Business Insider
8 hours ago
- Business Insider
Google's AI CEO explains why he's not interested in taking LSD in his quest to understand 'the nature of reality'
Demis Hassabis prefers gaming over acid trips. The Google DeepMind CEO said he's never taken LSD and doesn't want to. In a recent interview with Wired's Steven Levy, the AI boss was asked about his pursuit of understanding the "nature of reality," as his X bio states. More specifically, Hassabis was asked if acid had ever helped him get a glimpse of the nature of reality. The short answer is no. "I didn't do it like that," Hassabis said. "I just did it through my gaming and reading a hell of a lot when I was a kid, both science fiction and science." Hassabis set out as a child to understand the universe better, and the quest is ongoing. He's hoping AI and, eventually, artificial general intelligence will help reach his goal. While some tech leaders have talked about using psychedelics, Hassabis said he's "too worried about the effects on the brain." "I've sort of finely tuned my mind to work in this way," he said. "I need it for where I'm going." Google DeepMind is the research lab behind the company's AI projects, including chatbot Gemini. Hassabis is leading Google's charge toward the AI race's holy grail — AGI. Google DeepMind didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Over the years, Silicon Valley has embraced the use of psychedelics, such as microdosing to improve productivity or going on ayahuasca retreats. Some investors have banked on their popularity, backing psychedelic startups that are seeking to turn the drugs into medical treatments or expand the industry in other ways. However, that's not a green light to take acid or magic mushrooms on the clock. In 2021, CEO Justin Zhu, cofounder and CEO of a startup called Iterable, said he was fired for microdosing LSD before a meeting. He hoped it would improve his focus, he said. Some of Hassabis's tech peers have been open about using LSD as established bosses or as college students. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, for example, took acid for the first time as a teenager, according to his memoir, " Source Code: My Beginnings." For Gates, dropping acid was exhilarating at first and a "cosmic" experience when he did it again. However, he ended up thinking his brain could delete his memories like a computer. "That would be one of the last times I would do LSD," Gates said. It didn't have that effect on Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, who told his biographer, Walter Isaacson, that it was "a profound experience, one of the most important things in my life." OpenAI's Sam Altman has also spoken positively about his experience with psychedelics. Although he didn't specify exactly what drug he took, he said it changed him from a "very anxious, unhappy person" to "calm." "If you had told me that, like, one weekend-long retreat in Mexico was going to significantly change that, I would have said absolutely not," Altman said. "And it really did." For Hassabis, he's seeking other ways to find answers to life's deepest questions. "We don't know what the nature of time is, or consciousness and reality," he told Wired. "I don't understand why people don't think about them more. I mean, this is staring us in the face."
