OpenAI Founder To Raise Funding With Cryptocurrency Project Worldcoin

Up to 15.8 billion yen to be raised

Cryptocurrency startup Worldcoin is looking for an investor to lead its latest funding round. The Block reported, citing sources.

Worldcoin is a virtual currency project established in 2020 by Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, and physicist Alex Branier. According to sources, Worldcoin plans to raise up to about ¥15.8 billion ($120 million) at a valuation of about ¥390 billion ($3 billion).

The round is expected to come in the form of a stock and token warrant sale.

Altman has previously said that he envisioned Worldcoin as a project to distribute cryptocurrencies for free to people around the world, inspired by the concept of a universal basic income.

Participants can receive virtual currency by scanning the retina of their eyes with a biometric device “Orb”, which is about the size of a volleyball. The orb converts and records each person’s unique eye iris into a digital code, identifying individuals in a privacy-preserving manner with zero-knowledge proofs.

According to the official site. At present, nearly 1.2 million people have registered for the project, mainly in regions such as Africa, South America, the EU and Southeast Asia. The Worldcoin token will be officially released in the first half of this year.

Concept of Worldcoin

Worldcoin’s official website defines the cryptocurrency as “the first token distributed globally and free of charge to people simply by proving their identity as a unique individual.”

One of our missions is to provide a self-custody app that allows you to use Worldcoin tokens, other cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and fiat currencies. It is possible to use the app without an eye scan to obtain an ID, but the scan is required to receive free tokens.

Regarding airdrops, it is explained that in addition to Worldcoin tokens, Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) will also be distributed.

It also envisions that users will be able to use their World ID, generated by iris biometrics, as a pseudonym for a variety of everyday uses without revealing their identity.

Worldcoin has already raised multiple rounds of funding.

In March 2022, about 13 billion yen was raised from companies such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Coinbase Ventures, former CEO Sam Bankmanfried of the now-bankrupt FTX, and others. It has raised about 3.3 billion yen in 2021.

connection: Approximately 11 billion yen raised from Worldcoin, a16z, etc. = The Information

Success of ChatGPT

Altman’s other business, OpenAI, is enjoying spectacular success with its natural language interface, ChatGPT.

Microsoft is reportedly in negotiations to make an additional investment of 1.3 trillion yen ($10 billion) in OpenAI. With this additional investment, Microsoft will own 49% of OpenAI’s outstanding shares, with the remaining 49% owned by other early investors, employees, and OpenAI’s non-profit organizations.

connection: Microsoft invests 1.3 trillion yen in OpenAI developed by “ChatGPT”

connection: VC investment in generative AI surged in 2022, exceeding 350 billion yen

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