Key Takeaways
- After the mainnet launch on Monday, July 24, the price of World (WLD) soared by 78%
- The inclusion of WLD on Binance, Huobi, ByBit, and OKX also contributed to the price explosion
- Over 90,000 addresses are eligible for the Worldcoin airdrop, but most of them can only get 25 WLD each
Cryptocurrency exchanges Binance, Bybit, Huobi, OKX, and Gate all made hasty announcements that they will offer the brand-new WorldCoin coin WLD.
Binance Announcement Pushes WLD Price Over 75%
The announcement that they would start trading Worldcoin (WLD) was made by several cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance. According to this biggest volume exchange, the trading will “tentatively” start today, July 24, at 5 am EST.
Participants in the Worldcoin beta program who were given WLD tokens can now deposit those tokens to Binance, which just activated this option.
The exchange also added that it intends to support leveraged trading on WLD through its isolated margin feature.
Only a few hours before Binance’s anticipated launch, the cryptocurrency started trading on ByBit at $0.3 per coin. Within fifteen minutes, it jumped to a high of $2.79. The token’s last exchange price was $2.42. As per CoinMarketCap, the coin was up by over 64% to $2.72 at the time of writing.
The WLD token has already been available for purchase on Huobi, and on Tuesday at 10 a.m. UTC, both Bybit and OKX will make withdrawals possible. Users of Huobi can trade the spot WLD/USDT pair, and Bybit has added the WLD/USDC pair to its trading platform.
Everyone Can Get Access To New Digital ID
According to data generated by CoinGecko, there are 10 billion tokens in circulation, which, at the current price, would give the token a fully diluted worth of $25.6 billion as of the time of publication.
The token is released on the well-known layer-2 scaling technology Optimism and Ethereum.
An official statement from July 24 stated that the goal of the introduction of Worldcoin was to give everyone access to a new identification and financial network.
“Worldcoin consists of a privacy-preserving digital identity network (World ID) built on proof of personhood and, where laws allow, a digital currency (WLD). Every human is eligible for a share of WLD simply for being human,“ an explainer read.
According to the initiative, its implementation might improve “economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online while preserving privacy, and enable global democratic processes.”
Having been in development for more than three years, the project raised $115 in a Series C fundraising round in May that was organized by Blockchain Capital. However, the project has come under heavy fire for targeting individuals in the global south and for privacy issues.
The WLD Token Airdrop is Limited to 25 WLD per Address
The token has a 10 billion initial supply, of which 75% is assigned to the community, 9.8% is given to the development team, and 13.5% is given to investors in Tools for Humanity.
Over 2 million early community members that have been confirmed were given access to more than 43 million WLD tokens.
More than 90,000 addresses are eligible for the Worldcoin airdrop, but most of them can only receive about 25 WLD tokens each, according to blockchain research firm 0xScope.
The Worldcoin mobile app has also been updated, and users can use it to reserve a portion of the WLD tokens. Users must go to a Worldcoin Orb location, where they will be scanned to confirm their human identity and offer evidence of their humanity, in order to receive WLD tokens.
Controversial AI Project
WorldCoin is an AI-focused initiative with a significant focus on cryptocurrencies. With the goal of developing a digital identity (World ID), a digital currency (WorldCoin), and a digital payment app (World App), it was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Even when it was still in its beta phase, privacy hazards have been causing some people to express major worries about Worldcoin.
All users must consent to have their irises scanned by “The Orb,” a five-pound chromatic sphere, in order to receive cash.
The company claims that “the Orb uses iris biometrics to establish an individual’s unique personhood, then creates a digital World ID that can be used pseudonymously in a wide variety of everyday applications without revealing the user’s identity.”
The launch of Worldcoin on Binance and other exchanges occurred as the overall cryptocurrency market struggles to recover from the most recent loss of momentum. The price of Bitcoin is still stuck in a narrow range of around $30k, while the price of Ethereum varies below $1,900. As big altcoins like XRP, Cardano, and Solana struggle to cling onto recent gains, the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is down by around 1%.
AI, Crypto Connection
While the launch of Worldcoin coincides with significant advancements in AI, such as OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT last year, it also does so during a historically turbulent time for digital tokens and the larger crypto industry.
Last year, the industry had a crisis of trust that led to the failure of key players like FTX and Celsius as well as the flurry of enforcement measures that regulators launched to rein in speculative crypto projects.
The venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures, internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, and Sam Bankman-Fried—before his FTX business collapsed—all invested about $250 million in Worldcoin despite the regulatory obstacles.
Can Worldcoin Make Money?
Co-founder of Worldcoin Alex Blania said that due to regulatory oversight in the US, the company was constrained in communicating its business goals.
However, according to Tiago Sada, the company’s head of product, the project “will make money.” “All of our products are profit-driven. Many alternative wallets and experiences that are profitable will eventually exist. Additionally, Worldcoin has stated that it intends to retain roughly 20% of all the tokens it issues, utilizing the money from these holdings to pay for “Orb production and initial protocol development… ecosystem development and maintenance.”
Altman acknowledged that “a clear ick factor” is associated with eye-scanning technology, but he is optimistic that the company will attract customers with the right marketing.
“On crypto, there have been a lot of bad actors, and that’s a real shame . . . we have to earn people’s trust, which is why we’re explaining so much about how the technology works and the road map for decentralizing the company,” he said.
Teuta is a seasoned writer and editor with more than 15 years of experience. She has expertise in covering macroeconomics and technology as well as the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries. She has worked for several publications as a journalist and editor, including Forbes, Bloomberg, CoinTelegraph, Coin Rivet, CoinSpeaker, VRWorld and Arcane Bear.
Teuta began her professional career in 2005, working as a lifestyle writer at Cosmopolitan in Croatia. From there, she branched out to several other publications, covering mainly business and the economy. She then turned her attention to the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain, believing that crypto is among the most important inventions in the history of humanity. Her involvement in fintech began in 2014 and she has since lent her expertise in writing, editing and gathering information about the world of crypto, blockchain, NFTs and Web3.
An all-round news hound, mentor, editor, and writer, Teuta enjoys teamwork and good communication. She holds a WSET2 diploma and has a thing for chablis, punkrock music and shoes. She also holds a double MA in Political science and Entrepreneurship.
