While the biometric-scanning Orb and the World Wide Web have their roots in crypto tokens, “crypto” wasn’t a word often mentioned during the event. Instead, Altman and Blania emphasized global blockchain service, digital asset management and virtual communication tools.
Blania claimed during the press conference that in the future World hopes to build the “largest financial network” on the planet.
The World app is free for everyone to use for now. It’s also free to scan your eyeballs. Tools for Humanity itself is venture-backed, and the foundation, in its land grab for the modern identity verification market and your personal biometrics, is focused on scale, scale, scale. Ultimately, it can make money through processing fees, Blania said.
Most of Tools for Humanity’s expansion plans are outside the U.S. for now, due to murky crypto regulations in the States, the organization’s spokesperson told me.
If you are using the Orb and a compatible app in the US, it will scan and store your iris, but will not generate a crypto token for you.
“And again, there’s no data stored in a central place or anything like that,” Blania said.
In 2023 the service has also been investigated by governments in Germany, Brazil, India, South Korea and Kenya over concerns about how it stores and uses biometric data. Kenya has stopped listing Worldcoin entirely. South Korea fines the company. Worldcoin has stopped its own service in India, Brazil and France.
Blania said he believed World would relaunch in Kenya “soon”.
Asked at a press briefing about the emphasis on Latin America as an expansion market, such as through the partnership with Rappi for delivery balls, Blania disputed the notion that the World is prioritizing Latin America over other locations.
“We just have limited resources and a natural sequence happens,” Blania said. “Similarly, we are focused on Asia and elsewhere. For example, Argentina has been a fast-growing market for us and we are excited about that.”
“But the project is literally called World,” he added.
After the keynote, Altman ran into the press room to wave and apologize for not being able to stay, then stormed out like a head of state.
