The core of the Worldcoin system is World ID, a global identity network that protects user privacy. Through zero-knowledge proofs, World ID gives people the ability to prove their humanity online (“Proof of Personhood”) while still keeping their anonymity.

All owners of Orb-verified World IDs are eligible to receive ongoing grants of free WLD tokens (WLD tokens are not offered in the US; more information may be found in the Worldcoin Tokenomics section of the project's whitepaper). WLD could become the most extensively used digital money as a result of this.

The WLD token is intended to be a utility token with governance features that will give users control over the direction of the system. The launch of World ID opens the door for “one-person-one-vote” governance systems, which go beyond traditional “one-token-one-vote” mechanisms. New forms of governance can also be made possible by combining these two mechanisms. Following launch, the Worldcoin Foundation will seek suggestions and consult with the community to determine how World ID and the WLD token should interact with Worldcoin's governance architecture (for more information on governance and decentralization, check the project's whitepaper).

The utility of the token will be determined by the community of users, but in addition to governance, a few additional use cases may develop. Users may, for example, choose to use the WLD token to pay for certain actions in World App or another wallet app, to make other payments, or to indicate their support for specific initiatives or causes.

WLD is an Ethereum ERC-20 token. Individuals will be granted access to the Optimism Mainnet. As a result, the majority of WLD transactions will most likely take happen on the Optimism network.