Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Launches U.S. Rollout in Six Cities

Formerly known as Worldcoin, Sam Altman’s biometric crypto identification platform World has made its formal debut in six key tech-forward cities in the United States. Currently operating in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco, the initiative was created to distinguish humans from artificial intelligence in digital interactions.

World scans users’ faces and irises using a spherical biometric scanner called the Orb. Users can claim Worldcoin (WLD), the platform’s native cryptocurrency, after being verified and given a World ID. Human identity verification across digital platforms is made easier by the compatibility of these World IDs with an expanding variety of applications, such as Reddit, Telegram, Discord, Shopify, and Minecraft.

The project previously avoided domestic rollout because to regulatory issues around token issuance, thus the U.S. expansion signifies a strategic reversal. World is putting itself in a position to speed up adoption in important innovation hubs with a more crypto-tolerant policy climate.

World’s operations have been suspended by privacy authorities in a number of nations, including Spain and Portugal, due to worries over the gathering and use of biometric data. In spite of this, the initiative has 26 million users worldwide, 12 million of whom have been validated through Orb scans.

At a San Francisco event on April 30, World revealed that it would be launching a co-branded “World Visa card” in collaboration with payments behemoth Visa. The card will extend the platform’s use case beyond identity verification into payment infrastructure by allowing users to make purchases using WLD and other cryptocurrencies.

To further expand its ecosystem, World is working on a trial project to incorporate World ID into dating apps with Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, and Plenty of Fish. By minimizing the frequency of bots and phony profiles, the project aims to authenticate online dating.

Additionally, World announced significant alliances with decentralized lending platform Morpho and blockchain-based prediction market Kalshi, demonstrating its dedication to integrating identity verification into all aspects of the digital economy.

source