Worldcoin (WLD) is up nearly 19% in a day, and was among the top winners of last weekend’s recovery. As Bitcoin (BTC) returned above $64,000, selected altcoins also regained positions. The Worldcoin project showed it still achieves visibility, though hounded by some controversy.
WLD moved up to a weekly high of $6.50, later to slide to $6.35. The asset is yet to return to its early April prices, where WLD touched $6.90 before correcting. In the new week, WLD trading volumes also expanded to $577M in 24 hours.
With the latest earnings, WLD lined up among top weekly gainers, inviting additional attention. WLD has a relatively small free float of 200M tokens, with the Ethereum-based and Optimism versions competing for everyday use and trading.
Will Worldcoin Fulfill Its Ambitious Agenda with Native Blockchain
Worldcoin has set aside a total supply of 10B tokens, with the goal of mapping parts of the world economy. To reach that goal, Worldcoin may also partner with Open AI, where its co-founder Sam Altman is also the CEO.
But the token distribution is slow, as it is tied to acquiring personal biometric data. Worldcoin became known for its Orb campaign, assigning tokens to new users that consented to have their iris data stored.
That campaign led to around 3.6M wallets with WLD tokens running on the Optimism blockchain. Around 21K holders own tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. For a token-based project, those adoption numbers are decent, though far from the global goals.
The launch of a native Worldcoin blockchain was announced relatively late. Worldcoin will follow the model of Optimism, creating another Layer 2 blockchain connected to Ethereum.
The Worldchain launch may happen sometime in the summer of 2024. The blockchain will have social media aspects, and will give precedence of verified humans over bots. Worldchain will also be part of the Optimism Superchain ecosystem, meaning all users will be within a few steps of using all current Web3 and DeFi features.
Worldcoin Brings Web3 Identity with Controversial Ad
Did Worldcoin find Leo Messi to take part in their new online ad? Yes and no, but Worldcoin certainly caught the attention of social media with its recent self-promotion.
Worldcoin aims to present its identity-based technology in a user-friendly way, as it dispels the controversy of handling sensitive biological data.
The creation of an ID is a two-step process, where the creation of a wallet is only one step. The Orb, an iris camera, is also needed to generate a verified account. With biometric data, Worldcoin aims to become one of the blockchains to make a serious attempt to block bots.
The Worldcoin campaign is going global and just released a new ad for the Mexico campaign to verify users.
Worldcoin Still Holds Off Token Unlocks
Worldcoin is distributing its main asset, WLD, in several stages. In recent years, WLD underwent a migration as users increasingly moved to Optimism. Worldcoin went through some problems with its app and displaying the proper token balances. But at this stage, the market operates with only a fraction of the token supply.
Less than 5% of all Worldcoin has been minted and released. In the medium term, after 2025, WLD will expand its supply faster, starting with a series of token unlocks. Community tokens will start unlocking at a faster rate after July 2024.
Additionally, the Worldcoin team holds around 170M tokens as a reserve. WLD will be distributed mostly to the public, and investor tokens will not have an advantage over unlocked community tokens.
Web3 ID Project Targets Developers
Worldcoin is trying to secure users, but also developer talent. In May, the project opened its campaign to target Web3 and blockchain developers.
Developers can now apply to the Wave 1 Community Grant program, open for submissions until May 24. Worldcoin wants to help important projects that have skilled teams and have made progress in their development. Only KYC-verified projects will be eligible for the final grant.
