If OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is successful in raising $100 million, it will be a rare bright spot in a sector that has had a rough year. Altman plans to employ iris-scanning technology to build a safe worldwide cryptocurrency called Worldcoin.
Worldcoin is reportedly in early talks to raise the new funds as it prepares to launch in the next few weeks, as reported by three people with knowledge of the arrangement.
According to one of the sources, the consortium features both veteran financiers and fresh faces. Founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, internet mogul Reid Hoffman, venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto fund are among the company’s previous investors.
In 2019, Altman and Alex Blania established Worldcoin. The startup has been relatively quiet compared to OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, which signed a multibillion-dollar contract with Microsoft earlier this year.
With the help of eye-scanning technology, it aspires to establish a universal identity system that could be used to acquire unrestricted access to its own global currency, Worldcoin.
According to the Information, a technology news outlet, the company’s total token supply was valued at $3 billion after a $100 million token sale early last year.
However, the past year has been rough for crypto tokens and enterprises. The dramatic drop in token prices and the subsequent wave of crypto firm bankruptcies can be traced back to November of last year, when Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX abruptly shut down.
Sequoia Capital, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management, and Thoma Bravo were the VC firms who invested in FTX. Many large investment firms reduced their exposure to the sector after its implosion and the Bankman-Fried controversy.
It is a great achievement by OpenAI
One of the people directly involved with the OpenAI’s fundraising described the sum raised as “remarkable” for a project in this field.
Executives from Worldcoin have stated that their method addresses two issues brought up by the growing sophistication of AI: the inability to identify humans and bots apart, and the lack of a universal basic income to counteract potential job losses brought about by AI.
The business’s plans hinge on an orb that “uses iris biometrics to establish an individual’s unique personhood, then creates a digital World ID that can be used pseudonymously in a wide variety of everyday applications without revealing the user’s identity,” as the company puts it.
The company claims that consumers can get free Worldcoin tokens after verifying their identities.
Among the many complaints lodged against Worldcoin is the concern that its use of biometric scanning could compromise users’ privacy. The company promises that it will not keep iris scans and that the orb will not cause any harm to the user’s eyes in a special part of its website.
The startup, which has been in beta mode, will launch its blockchain system and begin logging transactions within the next six weeks.
To read our article about “OpenAI offers ‘Incognito mode’ about ChatGPT” click here.
