World's Digital Identity Project Launches in Six U.S. Cities

According to Cointelegraph, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's digital identity initiative, World, previously known as Worldcoin, has officially launched in the United States, marking its debut in six major cities. The project, which seeks to authenticate human identity in the era of artificial intelligence, has initially targeted what it describes as 'key innovation hubs'—Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. This expansion was announced on April 30, highlighting the project's ambition to integrate its identity verification system into various platforms. World offers a unique crypto token, Worldcoin (WLD), to individuals who verify their identity using a specialized device called The Orb. This device scans a user's face and eyes to create a World ID on the company's platform, which can then be used to confirm a user's humanity and facilitate sign-ins on integrated platforms such as Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram, Shopify, and Discord. In conjunction with its U.S. rollout, World announced a partnership with Visa to introduce a 'World Visa card' later this year. This card will enable users who have undergone Orb scans to make payments using WLD tokens and other cryptocurrencies. The project has also caught the attention of Match Group, the parent company of popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, Match.com, and Plenty of Fish. Match Group plans to pilot World ID within its apps, aiming to provide users with a reliable method to verify that the profiles they engage with are genuine. Additionally, World has formed partnerships with prediction market startup Kalshi and decentralized lending platform Morpho, further expanding its ecosystem. Altman co-founded the project in 2019 under the name Worldcoin, with the goal of establishing a global identity verification system leveraging blockchain technology to combat fraud and automated bots. The project rebranded to World in 2024 and has since amassed a user base of 26 million globally, with 12 million verified through Orb scans. Despite initial enthusiasm, WLD token prices have experienced volatility. Following the announcement, prices surged by approximately 15%, but these gains were short-lived, with the token declining over 5% in the past 24 hours, trading just above $1. WLD remains significantly below its March 2024 peak of $11.74, as reported by CoinGecko.