Worldcoin Soars 195% in a Week, Surpassing 1M Daily Users

The native token of Worldcoin — an iris-scanning crypto project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — has experienced a remarkable 195% price surge in the last week. The WLD price soared 41.64% in the past 24 hours and is currently trading at $7.52, as per CoinMarketCap. 

Key Reasons Behind WLD Price Surge

In a Feb. 17 post on X (formerly Twitter), Worldcoin revealed that its crypto wallet application, dubbed “World App,” had surpassed one million active users. This represents significant growth from just 100,000 daily active users recorded in November last year. This sudden increase in mass adoption of the project quickly gained traction, aligning with the WLD price rally.

World App, the first wallet built for the Worldcoin project, passed 1M daily users this week. This community is incredible 🫡 pic.twitter.com/Mf6Y51gscQ

— Worldcoin (@worldcoin) February 17, 2024

On Feb. 15, OpenAI launched its new text-to-video generator, Sora, allowing users to generate video scenes and clips from text prompts. Numerous replies to Altman’s recent post about Sora on X show that the AI platform is becoming extremely popular. This seems to be further aiding the price upswing.

Moreover, the blockchain analytics platform Spot On Chain pointed out that Alameda Research, a bankrupt cryptocurrency trading firm, holds 25 million WLD tokens, about 19% of the circulation supply. The company acquired these WLD tokens on August 15, 2023, and they remain untouched. Alameda’s substantial accumulation without any sales in recent days further aids in maintaining the upward price trend set by WLD.

Worldcoin Project Raises Privacy Concerns

Worldcoin started as a digital identity project in July and uses blockchain technology to verify users’ identities securely. The project rewards people with its WLD token for participating in iris scans. Users utilize special “Orbs” devices to scan their eyes, creating a unique “World ID” linked to their iris patterns. Sam Altman has emphasized that this digital ID will allow individuals to confirm their humanity online, particularly in a world dominated by artificial intelligence.

Worldcoin is under scrutiny due to its data collection practices. On August 2, Kenya’s interior minister disclosed that the country had suspended the Worldcoin project. The Hong Kong Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) has raided six Worldcoin offices using a court warrant on Jan.31.

The PCPD stated that the collection and processing of such data may be in contravention of the requirements of Hong Kong’s Personal Data Privacy Ordinance. The project has also ceased its Orb-verification service in India, France, and Brazil.