Worldcoin is in advanced talks to raise fresh capital as it nears launch in the next few weeks, according to the Financial Times. The project aims to use iris-scanning technology to create a secure global cryptocurrency called Worldcoin.
Previous investors in Worldcoin include Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and internet entrepreneur Reid Hoffman.
The firm was founded in 2019 and has been working on digital identification technology using retina-scanning orbs.
Furthermore, a $100 million private token sale early last year valued the total supply of the Worldcoin tokens at $3 billion, the report added.
Earlier this year, Worldcoin claimed to have surpassed a million signups and between 100 and 200 Orbs operational at any given time.
“It’s a bear market, a crypto winter. It’s remarkable for a project in this space to get this amount of investment,” said an FT source close to the project.
According to the firm, the orbs use “iris biometrics to establish an individual’s unique personhood, then create a digital World ID that can be used pseudonymously in a wide variety of everyday applications without revealing the user’s identity.”
Users will be eligible for free Worldcoin tokens once their identity has been established in the system.
However, the project has received some criticism over privacy issues related to biometrics. The firm stated that it will not store personal data from iris scanning.
According to TechCrunch, hackers have already managed to install malware on devices of multiple Worldcoin Orb operators.
Password-stealing malware, such as the RedLine information stealer, had been detected pilfering some of the credentials saved in browsers, including login details for the Orb operator app, it noted.
On May 11, the Worldcoin Foundation announced a commitment to support the Optimism Collective and bring the World ID system to the Optimism ecosystem.