Sam Altman says Worldcoin is onboarding eight users per second, but claims are largely unsubstantiated Sam Altman says Worldcoin is onboarding eight users per second, but claims are largely unsubstantiated
The Worldcoin founder is touting high adoption rates but support from on-chain data is lacking.
2 min read
Updated: Mar. 6, 2024 at 3:27 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Worldcoin founder Sam Altman took to Twitter on July 26 to boast that project was seeing an adoption rate of “one person getting verified every 8 seconds now.”In the tweet, Altman described “crazy lines around the world” and attached video footage of individuals lined up to use the project’s eye-scanning technology.
However, Altman offered no evidence beyond his cell phone video to support his claim.
Limited data, limited adoption
Altman claimed the project verifies one person every eight seconds but did not state how many people have participated. Earlier reports from July 13 suggested Worldcoin had attracted more than 2 million registrants in the weeks before its launch.
The project has several offices worldwide where users can complete the verification requirement, so Altman’s video recording is highly selective. Some users have reported no such lines at some sign-up locations, including one in Dubai.
On-chain data similarly suggest limited adoption. Etherscan records show that just over 3,650 individuals hold the WLD token and that 13,766 transfers have occurred.
And despite rapid early gains on July 24 that drove WLD’s price above $2.60, the token’s price has fallen to $2.09. The cryptocurrency nevertheless ranks among the top 150 cryptocurrencies by market cap and has a capitalization of $232 million.
Worldcoin’s ID program and cryptocurrency originally went live on July 24. The project aims to create digital “World IDs” based on eye-scanning technology. Those IDs can be used to access services and differentiate between human and AI agents.
The program also offers cryptocurrency rewards to users who participate. Reports suggest the sign-up reward is 25 WLD, currently worth $52.50.
Worldcoin is controversial due to its reliance on user identification, an approach that decentralization advocates argue undermines one of the core goals of cryptocurrency: to provide uncensorable and pseudonymous access to digital money.
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and U.K. regulators are among the many parties that have criticized aspects of the project since its launch.
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Author 
Mike Dalton
Before transitioning to crypto writing in 2018, Mike studied library and information sciences. Currently, he resides on Canada's West Coast.
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Worldcoin’s mission is to build the world’s largest identity and financial network to serve as a public utility, giving ownership to everyone.
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, an AI research and deployment company since 2019.