OpenAI founder Sam Altman launched Worldcoin in July, a cryptocurrency token offered to people willing to share their biometric data by scanning their eyeballs with an Orb, seeking to link real-world identity with decentralized blockchain identity. Many aspects of the project embody the dystopian nightmare that the cypherpunks created Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies in order to avoid.
The tokenomics for Worldcoin’s WLD token are such that only 1% of the total value is floating right now. That kind of overhang is unprecedented, even in the wild world of crypto distributions. The token won’t long hold its value unless the entire world puts their eyeballs into the Orb. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum — which grew organically through user adoption and utility — the project is all or nothing. Either it is the only solution for on-chain identity or it will be worthless.