What is Worldcoin (WLD)?

Deep Dive

1. Purpose & Value Proposition

Worldcoin addresses two core challenges: proving humanness in an AI-dominated world and equitably distributing digital assets. By scanning irises with its Orb devices, it creates World IDs – cryptographic proofs of unique personhood. These IDs allow users to claim WLD tokens (where permitted) and participate in governance, aiming to prevent Sybil attacks and empower individuals in digital economies.

2. Technology & Architecture

The system combines:
- Zero-knowledge proofs – World IDs verify humanity without revealing personal data.
- Biometric hardware – Proprietary Orbs capture iris patterns (deleting scans by default) to prevent duplicate registrations.
- Multi-chain integration – WLD operates as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum, with most activity on Optimism for scalability.

3. Tokenomics & Governance

• 10 billion max supply – 75% allocated to users via grants over 15 years.
• Dual governance – Combines token-weighted voting ("one token, one vote") with identity-based mechanisms ("one person, one vote").
• Inflation control – Fixed 0% base inflation unless changed by governance, capped at 1.5% annually post-2040 (Worldcoin whitepaper).

Conclusion

Worldcoin positions itself as infrastructure for human-centric digital systems, blending biometric identity with crypto economics. While its vision of global financial inclusion is ambitious, key questions remain: Can decentralized identity scale without compromising privacy, and will token distribution drive meaningful adoption beyond speculative trading?