Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Switches Orb Rewards Plan to Boost WLD Supply

The ambitious and controversial Worldcoin (WLD) project will switch operator rewards from USDC stablecoins to its WLD tokens on October 24, increasing the tokens’ circulating supply in the open market.

“The WLD token was launched with a relatively low circulating supply of just above 100M WLD,” Worldcoin said in a Sunday post. “This was due to the goal of creating a network of as many human beings as possible. 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.”

Worldcoin is an identity protocol backed by OpenAI founder Sam Altman. The protocol uses a hardware unit known as an Orb to identify individuals and prove they are human by scanning their irises – which the company says will ultimately benefit the broader crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystems as they are integrated into society.

Users verified by the Orb can claim WLD tokens on the project’s app, where regulations allow, while Orb operators were paid for in USDC tokens per iris scan. It is unclear how much these operators make per scan.

WLD token prices fell nearly 6% to $1.48 in the past 24 hours.