Altman's World secures $52.5m in token sale

World, the digital verification venture co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, has raised $52.5 million through a sale of its WLD crypto token.

The funding round was led by Pantera Capital and included Bain Capital Crypto, Susquehanna Crypto, Eightco Holdings and Selini Capital. Participating buyers agreed to a 12-month lockup period, a restriction the company said demonstrates investors’ “long-term commitment to World’s continued growth and utility.”

The capital will flow to the World Foundation, an exempted limited guarantee foundation based in the Cayman Islands. The foundation was created to steward the network's expansion, while the project itself is operated by Tools for Humanity, a San Francisco startup led by CEO Alex Blania.

World builds tools to verify that a human, rather than a bot or AI agent, is behind an online account. To obtain a verified World ID, users must scan their eyes with a physical device called an Orb, which converts an iris into a distinct cryptographic identifier.

The project began as Worldcoin but rebranded amid a broader backlash against the crypto sector. Its app functions as a custodial wallet where users can hold or trade the token, and Orbs have been deployed at partner stores globally.

In April, World announced partnerships with Tinder, Zoom, and Docusign to boost its real-world utility. Despite these integrations, the company has struggled to scale its business or convince consumers to adopt the technology, resulting in a round of layoffs in June.

For investors, the bet is that proving human identity will become critical infrastructure as artificial intelligence makes it harder to distinguish people from automated systems. The locked-up capital indicates that venture firms are willing to weather current consumer skepticism to secure a position in that future market.