While the Orb and World biometric scanning network have their roots in cryptographic tokens, “crypto” was not a word mentioned frequently during the event. Instead, Altman and Blania emphasized World’s blockchain service, digital asset management, and virtual communication tools.
Blania stated during the press conference that in the future World hopes to build the “largest financial network” on the planet.
In a separate interview with WIRED, Blania said that during regular Sunday gatherings at Atlman’s home, the couple was inspired by the rise of PayPal. Similar to the way Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and others pioneered digital payments and fundamentally changed online commerce (making themselves billionaires in the process), the global team saw themselves building a network similar for tokens in a distributed network.
The World app, for now, is free for everyone. 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 about scale, scale, scale. Over time, you can make money through processing fees, Blania said.
Most of Tools for Humanity’s expansion plans for now are in locations outside the US, due to murky cryptocurrency regulations in the United States, the organization’s spokesperson told me.
If you use Orb and a compatible app in the US, it will scan and store your iris, but it will not generate a crypto token for you.
Two and a half years ago, the Worldcoin project came under scrutiny for allegedly deceptive and exploitative practices in recruiting individuals to scan their irises. At the time, Blania attributed this disorderly behavior to the organization still being in its “startup” phase. In an interview with WIRED, Blania said the company is doing “a thousand things” to ensure a more rigorous consent process. This includes staffing an “operational team” in each market where World will be. He said there will be “explanations” in the World app about how the product works.
“And again, there’s no data stored in any central place or anything,” Blania said.
As of 2023, the service was also under investigation by the governments of Germany, Brazil, India, South Korea and Kenya, over concerns about how it stored and used biometric data. Kenya completely suspended Worldcoin registration. South Korea fined the company. Worldcoin suspended its own service in India, Brazil and France.
Blania said he believes World will relaunch in Kenya “soon.”
When asked at the press conference about the emphasis on Latin America as an expansion market, such as through the partnership with Rappi for orbs on-delivery, Blania questioned the idea that World was prioritizing Latin America over other locations.
“It’s just that we have limited resources and a natural sequence is occurring,” Blania said. “We are equally focused on Asia and elsewhere. “Argentina, for example, has been a rapidly growing market for us, and that excites us.”
“But the project is literally called World,” he added.
After the keynote speech, Altman ran into the press room to say hello and apologize for not being able to stay, and then slipped away like a head of state.