The Worldcoin project’s predatory tokenomics will not result in the “greatest transfer of wealth” to the masses but a transfer to the “pockets of the Worldcoin team and insiders,” a top-ranked trader has asserted. The top trader also accused project promoters of using Open AI co-founder Sam Altman’s past endorsement of Worldcoin to prop up […]
Bitcoin News
South Korea Launches Investigation Into Worldcoin’s Data Collection Practices
The government of South Korea has opened an investigation into Worldcoin, the iris scanning cryptocurrency and digital wallet project. According to a press release, the Personal Information Protection Commission, the data privacy watchdog in the country, will investigate the actions taken by Worldcoin regarding the treatment of the data collected from users and will take […]
Bitcoin News
Worldcoin’s WLD Token Skyrockets 142%, Leading Crypto Market’s Week of Surges
This week, WLD token from the Worldcoin project soared by 142.7% against the U.S. dollar, topping the chart as the week’s most significant gainer. Hot on its heels was the digital currency bitget token (BGB), which saw an increase of just over 58% in the past week. Conversely, Astar (ASTR) experienced a decline of 6.4%, […]
Bitcoin News
Kresus App and Worldcoin’s Tools for Humanity Forge Web3 Partnership
On Monday, Kresus, the Web3 platform specializing in cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unveiled a collaboration with Tools for Humanity, the creators of the Worldcoin initiative and the World ID identification system.
World ID Meets Kresus App
Kresus and Tools for Humanity (TFH) have unveiled a new partnership. In a joint effort, TFH’s World ID will be integrated into the Kresus App, a crypto and NFT application accessible on both Apple’s App Store and Google Play. Furthermore, Kresus Labs will provide guidance to TFH on product strategy and engage in a collaborative effort for technical implementation, as outlined in the official announcement sent to Bitcoin.com News.
The Kresus App provides users with a Web3 .kresus address and an array of identity tools to streamline transfers with ease and security. “The goal of Kresus has always been to offer a tool for everyone to benefit from the blockchain,” Trevor Traina, the founder and chairman of Kresus Labs explained on Monday. “This is more than just dabbling in crypto since identity touches on all future use cases of Web3 technologies. Proof of personhood will become an essential component of the Web3 ecosystem.”
Traina added:
As such, this collaboration is an excellent enhancement to the work we have already done in supporting Web3 identity.
Following TFH’s revelation of a redesign for its iris-scanning orb architecture, the partnership with Kresus has come to light. In a conversation with Techcrunch, Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of TFH, likened the upcoming iteration to an “Apple product.” As of January 16, 2024, the Worldcoin system had successfully processed a staggering 3 million unique individuals. In December 2023, the World App soared to the top of the finance charts in Portugal and secured the second spot in Spain. However, worldcoin (WLD), the project’s native crypto asset, has experienced a 40% decline in value over the past 30 days.
As stated in Monday’s announcement, further information on utilizing World ID to access the Kresus App will be unveiled “in due course.” Blania said “It is exciting to see another quality wallet developer team integrating World ID and joining the World App ecosystem. Through this collaboration, our teams expect to learn a lot from each other in terms of product strategy and technical implementation over the coming months,” the TFH CEO and co-founder added.
What do you think about the partnership between Kresus and Worldcoin’s TFH? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Openai Shakeup: Sam Altman Out as CEO, Worldcoin’s WLD Plunges
Following the announcement by Openai, a firm dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI), that Sam Altman is stepping down, Worldcoin, a crypto venture backed by Altman, experienced a 13.5% decline in its native asset WLD compared to the U.S. dollar. Openai, in an open letter addressed to the public, revealed that its board has reached a consensus that it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading Openai.”
Sam Altman Departs Openai, Triggering Worldcoin Slide
On the day of Friday, November 17, 2023, Openai, known for developing Chatgpt, declared that its CEO, Sam Altman, is exiting the organization. Mira Murati, the CTO, has been named the interim CEO to guide Openai during this transition. The letter articulates Openai’s gratefulness for Altman’s “many contributions” to the inception and expansion of the company. Nonetheless, it also underscores the AI firm’s board’s loss of “confidence” in his ongoing leadership at Openai.
The company’s board stated:
Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.
Altman was not only at the helm of Openai but he also played a crucial role in the crypto project Worldcoin, which utilizes the native token WLD. Following the recent announcement, the WLD token has experienced a notable decline of 13.5%, with its 24-hour trading range fluctuating between .89 and .25. Following the significant slide, WLD rebounded a hair and is now only down 8% against the U.S. dollar.
Presently, it’s trading at per unit. In the vast landscape of over 10,000 cryptocurrencies, its market capitalization stands at 9 million, ranking it at the 171st position in the global crypto economy. Additionally, WLD has seen 4 million in trading volume in the last 24 hours, with the dominant trading pair being tether (USDT).
What do you think about Sam Altman stepping down from Openai? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Worldcoin’s Tools for Humanity Claims to Have Invested Nearly $4.8 Million in Kenya
Nearly .8 million has been used to fund cryptocurrency and blockchain education efforts in Kenya, the CEO of Tools for Humanity, Alex Blania, recently revealed. Blania also denied allegations that Worldcoin plans to sell users’ biometric data obtained via its eyeball-scanning orbs.
More Funding on the Way
Tools for Humanity (TFH), the organization supporting the development and growth of Worldcoin’s ecosystem, has so far invested nearly .8 million in Kenya, the software company’s CEO Alex Blania recently revealed. Speaking before the East African country’s parliament, Blania claimed that the money was used to fund cryptocurrency and blockchain education efforts.
However, according to a report in The Star, TFH did not directly engage in such education-related activities. Instead, it relied on third parties and partners such as Strathmore University, the Blockchain Association of Kenya, the American Chamber of Commerce, and the Africa Blockchain Centre. According to Blania, TFH is also planning to add more funds towards such activities.
Blania’s appearance before the legislative body came a few weeks after the Kenyan government suspended Worldcoin’s activities. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the suspension was made to give Kenyan agencies time to assess the cryptocurrency project’s potential risks to public safety. Prior to the government’s suspension decision, the country’s data regulating agency had warned Kenyans against sharing their personal data with the entity.
Worldcoin Not Planning to Sell User Biometric Data
Reacting to these as well as other allegations made against Worldcoin, Blania said:
We wish to emphasise the Worldcoin project’s long-term commitment to Kenya. Our commitment to the people of Kenya is genuine, and we have at all times endeavoured to operate honestly, compliantly and above all transparently.
The CEO also rejected claims that Worldcoin intends to sell users’ biometric data obtained via its eyeball-scanning orbs.
Meanwhile, a Kenyan technology lawyer, Meshack Masibo, recently questioned the validity of Worldcoin’s claim that Kenyans were freely sharing personal data. According to the lawyer, this argument is not sustainable because there is no easy way to prove that users were fully aware of what they were agreeing to.
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Worldcoin’s Centralization Dilemma: 100 Wallets Still Dominate 93% of Total Supply
Since August 11, 2023, the number of unique digital wallets storing the iris-scanning cryptocurrency worldcoin (WLD) stood around 468,466. But in the weeks since, ownership of the fledgling crypto has expanded by over 26% to 591,633 wallets. However, worldcoin’s value has moved in the opposite direction — plummeting over 35% against the U.S. dollar in the past 30 days. Currently, the digital asset trades at 62% below its all-time high price.
Vast Majority of WLD Tokens Held by Top Wallets
The brainchild of Openai CEO Sam Altman, worldcoin (WLD) burst onto centralized crypto exchanges in late July 2023. The cryptocurrency aims to verify users’ identities by scanning their irises. The project also plans to address financial inequality and online identity authentication through its World ID feature.
On its July 24 debut, WLD struck its zenith of .30 per token. But since that apex, the price has nosedived. Now fluctuating between .20 and .38, worldcoin recently plunged to an all-time low of .02 per coin on September 5. Though WLD wallets have proliferated 26% since August 11, crossing 591,633 unique addresses as of September 7, the pace has downshifted.
From July 24 until August 18, new wallets mushroomed. But in the weeks since then, expansion has decelerated to a crawl, with addresses swelling just over 11% in that period. This slowdown suggests worldcoin’s initial burst of skyrocketing adoption has eased into a steadier, more modest climb. Moreover, while there are close to 600,000 WLD wallets, the top 100 control 93.82% of the entire supply of 176.89 million WLD.
The 100 addresses commanding most of the supply hold 165.96 million worldcoin tokens. The Worldcoin contract address operated by the development team commands 95.87 million WLD or 54.2% of the supply. Worldcoin also owns the second largest wallet, holding 30.98 million tokens or 17.51%.
The largest crypto exchange by trade volume, Binance, occupies the third spot, with 12.05 million WLD or 6.81% of supply. Other big holders include the market maker Wintermute, alongside crypto exchanges such as Bithumb, Okx, and Gate.io.
Despite Worldcoin’s mission to advance financial equality, so far, WLD ownership remains strikingly centralized. For Worldcoin to truly promote financial inclusion as intended, ownership must diffuse from the founders, exchanges, and market makers into the hands of everyday users.
What do you think about the Worldcoin project and the centralization and distribution factors, considering the top wallets hold most of the coins? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Report: Kenyan Subscribers Constituted 25% Worldcoin’s Global Total in July
At some point in July, there were as many as 350,000 Kenya-based residents who had subscribed and shown interest in receiving Worldcoin’s crypto token. According to a Kenyan legislator, Worldcoin executives are now expected to appear before a parliamentary committee on Sept. 4.
Argentina’s Record Sign Ups
A Kenyan parliamentary committee tasked with investigating Worldcoin’s activities in the East African nation recently revealed that as many as 350,000 residents had shown interest in the project before its suspension by the government. According to the committee, Kenyan subscribers were accounting for a quarter of Worldcoin’s global total at some point in July.
However, as noted in a report published by The Star, the total number of World ID sign-ups from across 34 different countries had topped 2.26 million by August. In addition, the organization suggested an Aug. 31 blog post that demand for the World ID has continued to grow. To prove this, Worldcoin has pointed to the record number of sign-ups seen in Argentina recently.
While the Worldcoin team has continued to tout some of the project’s milestones, officials in Kenya have seemingly adopted a hardline approach towards the entity and its local affiliates. In addition, A Kenyan court has reportedly backed the government’s decision to suspend Worldcoin activities in the country.
Meanwhile, the investigating committee, which is chaired by the Narok West legislator Gabriel Tongoyo, was told of how some failed to cash out their tokens. Tongoyo nevertheless revealed that Worldcoin owners would soon appear before the Kenyan parliament to answer issues concerning the crypto project.
“They will appear on Monday next week [Sept. 4] …with travel issues, they have told us they will not be here as planned and so we have made the necessary adjustments to our program,” the legislator.
Tongoyo added that Solicitor General Shadrack Mose and the country’s Data Commissioner, Immaculate Kassait, are also expected to appear before the committee.
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Worldcoin’s Turbulent Debut: Down 53% From Peak With 85% WLD Held in Just 6 Wallets
In just over 25 days since its listing debut on July 24, 2023, the cryptocurrency known as worldcoin (WLD) has experienced a notable decline of 29% when measured against the U.S. dollar. Notably, within the last week alone, it saw a decrease of more than 11%. Interestingly, within the past 24 hours, WLD showcased a rise of more than 15% against the greenback. Furthermore, four days prior, the count of distinct wallets containing WLD surpassed the 500,000 mark.
Worldcoin Plummets Over 50% Since Its All-Time High
According to statistics, the iris-scanning crypto project Worldcoin‘s native token, WLD, has increased 15% in the last 24 hours. Data from July 24 to August 18, 2023, shows WLD has declined 29.1% against the U.S. dollar. Currently, WLD ranks 156 out of more than 10,000 crypto assets listed, with a market value of about 4 million. There’s a circulating supply of 178.9 million WLD, trading at .53 each. WLD is down 53.46% from its all-time high on July 24, 2023, its listing date.
Of the 178.9 million WLD in existence, 17.45 million are claimed tokens, according to data from Dune Analytics. On August 14, 2023, the number of wallets holding WLD surpassed 500,000, and as of August 18, there are 531,236 unique addresses. The top wallet, which is the contract, holds 97.52 million WLD, or 54.52% of the supply. The second wallet, also under Worldcoin control, holds 30.98 million WLD, or 17.33% of the current supply. The third-largest WLD holder is Binance’s cold wallet with about 11.7 million tokens or 6.54%.
The market maker Wintermute holds the fourth-largest WLD wallet with 7.19 million, or 4.03% of the supply. Worldcoin operates the fifth-largest WLD address with about 3.45 million tokens (1.93%), while the sixth-largest Worldcoin wallet belongs to the crypto exchange Okx. As of August 18, the Okx wallet holds approximately 2.13 million WLD, or 1.19% of the total supply. The six aforementioned WLD wallets control 85.53% of the 178.9 million WLD. The top 100 Worldcoin (WLD) holders collectively own 94.04% of the supply.
In the past 24 hours, WLD has seen about .76 million in trade volume. The crypto asset’s 4 million represents 0.018% of the .09 trillion crypto economy. The four most traded pairs for WLD are tether (USDT), bitcoin (BTC), USD Coin (USDC) and the Korean won, followed by the U.S. dollar. Tether trades make up 96% of WLD’s 24-hour trade volume. About .01 million of the .76 million comes from Uniswap v3 on Ethereum, and roughly 0,000 was recorded in the last day on the Optimism version of Uniswap v3, with the most traded pair being WETH.
What do you think about worldcoin (WLD) losing more than 50% of its value since it was first listed at the end of July? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Report: Kenyan Police Raid Worldcoin’s Offices Just Days After Govt Suspended the Crypto Project
A team of Kenyan police officers is reported to have raided the premises used by Worldcoin and seized devices storing users’ data. The raid came just days after the Kenyan government announced the suspension of Worldcoin’s activities in the country.
Officers Armed With Search Warrant
The Kenyan police recently raided a building housing cryptocurrency and biometric ID project Worldcoin, and reportedly took away devices used for storing data. According to a local report, the law enforcement agents were not only armed with a search warrant but had the backing of so-called multi-agency officials.
The raid on Worldcoin’s Kenyan offices came barely a week after the government suspended the cryptocurrency project on grounds that it posed a threat to public safety. Before that, Kenya’s data regulating agency had sounded the alarm over Worldcoin’s activities in the East African country.
However, following the move by the Kenyan government, Tools for Humanity (TFH)’s Alex Blania said in a tweet that his organization would use the pause in Worldcoin’s activities to address regulators’ concerns. Yet, as stated in a report published by Kahawa Tungu, Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait is adamant that Worldcoin did not adequately explain its intentions during its registration process, hence the raid.
Eliud Owalo: At the point of registration, Worldcoin had met all the requisite requirements for registration purposes. What Kenyans need to understand is that there is a difference between registration and operationalization #MondayReport @TrevorOmbija pic.twitter.com/bUxOEc7C0d
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) August 7, 2023
User Data ‘Will Not Be Infringed’
Meanwhile, Eliud Owalo, the Kenyan ICT minister who has defended Worldcoin’s activities in the past, suggested in an interview with Citizen TV Kenya that TFH may not have been adhering to the requirements of its registration license. When asked about the fate of the data collected from over 350,000 Kenyans who had their irises scanned by Worldcoin’s “Orb,” Owalo said the Office of the Data Commissioner “has ensured that that data will not be infringed.”
Reacting to news of the raid, Erik Voorhees, the founder of crypto exchange platform Shapeshift, lamented how the seizure of Worldcoin’s data storage devices has resulted in the transfer of users’ personal data to politicians.
“Just like that, all the private data (which can never be revoked) is in the hands of politicians. And also whichever regime comes into power next. Of course, raiding the orbs isn’t even necessary. Governments of any country can just demand it all with a strongly worded letter,” Voorhees said in a tweet.
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