Eyeball-Scanning Project Worldcoin to Reward Operators in WLD Token Instead of USDC

Eyeball-scanning cryptocurrency project Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, announced Sunday that the project operators would receive rewards in its native coin WLD, instead of USD Coin (USDC) stablecoins.

Worldcoin operators, who operate the biometric imaging device – Orb – developed by Tools for Humanity, will receive rewards for verifying personhood in the form of WLD tokens. Previously, the operator rewards were paid in USDC.

The transition from USDC to WLD will be completed by next month, which is not available to users in the United States.

“In November 2023, the Worldcoin Foundation expects that the transition process will be completed such that all Operators will receive WLD going forward.”

In a company update, Worldcoin noted that the project has seen a steady rise in the circulating supply of its native token from around 100 million to just above 130 million, or 1.34% of the 10 billion total supply.

The project aims to create a network of as many individuals to verify their humanness. “To achieve this, the majority of the WLD token supply will be given to new and existing users in the form of user grants over the years to come,” the company wrote.

Rise in WLD Circulating Supply

Worldcoin attributes the increase in the WLD token supply to Orb-verified users that claim around 34 million WLD in free user grants, since the launch of the native token in July.

The circulating supply is composed of 100 million WLD tokens in loans extended to market makers, 34.3 million in user grants claimed and tokens received by operators as rewards.

The loans are set to expire on Tuesday, Oct. 24, and according to Worldcoin, the agreements would be renewed until December 15 “with a reduced loan amount of 75M WLD in total.”

“Thus, on October 24, 2023, the market makers will return 25M WLD of the currently outstanding loan, or alternatively they may elect to purchase any amount of tokens up to the loan amount to be returned.”

Last month, Sam Altman, also the CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, said that Worldcoin faces huge operational challenges.

“The operational challenges are obviously huge [when] you think about what it takes to get these orbs manufactured,” he said, speaking at a panel during Token 2049 in Singapore. He also highlighted that overcoming “biometrics resistance” remains a challenge.