Sam Altman’s Worldcoin passes 2M sign-ups after months of touring

Worldcoin surpassed two million sign-ups to World ID in less than half the time it took to reach one million.

Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency and digital identification project has seen more than two million users sign up to its “global identity protocol” dubbed World ID.

According to a July 13 statement, the World ID project — which is still in beta testing— passed two million in less than half the time it took to reach the first million.

2 million strong Thank you to everyone who helped Worldcoin reach this milestone. The timing couldn’t be more appropriate.https://t.co/dXNpb6h2hr

— Worldcoin (@worldcoin) July 13, 2023

In a nutshell, World ID aims to offer a “global digital passport” that users can store on their phones to prove their identity, while using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to protect their privacy.

To sign up to the World ID program and receive a “digital passport”, individuals must visit an orb to scan one of their eyeballs. This creates a unique “IrisHash,” that is used to verify their uniqueness. Users who successfully upload their sensitive biometric data are paid for their efforts in a self-titled cryptocurrency known as Worldcoin.

1/ Proof of personhood addresses two of the key considerations presented by the Age of AI:

✅ Protecting against sybil attacks
✅ Minimizing the spread of AI-generated misinformation

— Worldcoin (@worldcoin) April 21, 2023

Worldcoin credited its sign-up rush to a recent multi-city tour that spanned across Barcelona, Berlin and Tokyo. The tour averaged 40,000 new verified World ID members every week, it said.

Worldcoin anticipates that these five-pound, chrome eye-scanning devices known as “Orbs” will become increasingly available worldwide over the next several months, due to an uptick in demand.

“Additionally, just as more people are signing up, a growing number of apps and services are making use of the World ID protocol.”

It also noted that other protocols including Okta’s Auth0 and Talent Protocol, have begun to use World ID and Worldcoin in their respective onboarding procedures.

On May 8, the project launched the World App, a gas-free crypto wallet for verified humans that works on Android and iOS operating systems. Roughly two weeks later on May 25, Worldcoin raised $115 million in a Series C funding round to support the further rollout of its World ID program.

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