Role in the network: Sam Altman’s iris-scanning cryptocurrency project — co-founded while he was OpenAI CEO, funded by convicted fraudsters (SBF, Three Arrows Capital) and Altman’s own investment network (a16z, Reid Hoffman, Coinbase Ventures), banned or restricted in at least eight countries, ruled GDPR non-compliant by German regulators, and designed to create a global biometric identity system that Altman has described as “an eventual path to AI-funded UBI” — connecting AI displacement (OpenAI), biometric identity verification (Worldcoin), and income replacement (UBI research via OpenResearch) in a single founder’s portfolio.
Bio
Worldcoin (rebranded as World / World Network in October 2024) is a cryptocurrency and digital identity project developed by Tools for Humanity (TFH), a company co-founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania. The project aims to create a global identity and financial network through three components: World ID (a biometric digital identity based on iris scans), WLD (a cryptocurrency token on the Optimism/Ethereum blockchain), and the World App (a payments and transfers application). [1] [2]
Sam Altman serves as Chairman of Tools for Humanity. Alex Blania (born circa 1994, educated at Caltech and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany) serves as CEO. Max Novendstern departed the company in 2021. Tools for Humanity is headquartered in San Francisco with European headquarters in Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany — a location that places it under the jurisdiction of Bavaria’s data protection authority (BayLDA), which has been investigating the project since April 2023. [2] [3]
The project uses metallic, volleyball-sized devices called Orbs to scan individuals’ irises, creating a unique biometric identifier (iris code) that serves as “proof of personhood” — verifying that the user is a unique human being rather than a bot or duplicate account. In exchange for scanning, users receive WLD tokens (in countries where local law permits) and a World ID. [1] [4]
Tools for Humanity has raised over $240 million in total funding at a valuation of approximately $3 billion. [5]
Funding History and the Toxic Investor Problem
| Round | Date | Amount | Valuation | Key Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | Oct 2021 | $25M | $1B | a16z, Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Sam Bankman-Fried (FTX), Reid Hoffman, Three Arrows Capital |
| Series B | Mar 2022 | $100M | $3B | a16z, Khosla Ventures |
| Series C | May 2023 | $115M | — | Blockchain Capital (lead), a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, Distributed Global |
| Total | $240M+ |
[5] [6] [7]
The Convicted Fraudster Problem
Two of Worldcoin’s earliest and most prominent investors are now convicted criminals or operators of collapsed funds:
Sam Bankman-Fried / FTX: Invested in the Series A (October 2021). SBF was later convicted of perpetrating an approximately $8 billion fraud through FTX. Despite FTX’s collapse, wallets linked to SBF’s entities received over $185 million worth of WLD tokens in August 2023 — meaning the convicted fraudster’s estate holds a significant position in Altman’s biometric identity project. [6] [7]
Three Arrows Capital (3AC): Also invested in the Series A at the $1 billion valuation. 3AC collapsed in June 2022, with co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies later facing fraud charges. Zhu acknowledged the investment publicly, noting that 3AC creditors hold “one of the largest positions in WLD in the world.” [6] [7]
Reid Hoffman: LinkedIn co-founder. Also was on OpenAI’s board before departing amid concerns about conflicts. Hoffman’s presence in the Worldcoin investor list connects the project to the same Silicon Valley network documented throughout this investigation. [7] [8]
Coinbase Ventures: Invested in Worldcoin’s Series A. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal now sits on the VotingWorks board (as of January 2026) — connecting Worldcoin’s investor to the election technology company where Jake Moritz works. [7]
The AI-UBI-Identity Pipeline
Worldcoin does not exist in isolation. It is one component of a three-part system that Altman has been building across his organizations:
1. AI creates displacement (OpenAI): ChatGPT and subsequent models automate jobs, creating economic disruption. Altman has publicly stated that AI will destroy jobs and that UBI is “an obvious conclusion.”
2. Research proves UBI works (OpenResearch): Altman’s nonprofit conducted a three-year UBI study ($1,000/month to 1,000 participants in Illinois and Texas). The RISE study continues in rural communities. OpenResearch published research showing AI chatbots are better survey tools than humans.
3. Identity verification enables distribution (Worldcoin): If UBI is to be distributed globally, you need a way to verify unique individuals — “proof of personhood.” Worldcoin’s iris scanning creates the identity layer. The WLD token creates the payment rail.
The closed loop: Altman builds the AI that displaces workers (OpenAI). His nonprofit researches the income replacement system (OpenResearch/UBI). His biometric project creates the identity verification needed to distribute income replacement (Worldcoin). His cryptocurrency token IS the replacement income (WLD). At every stage of the displacement-to-compensation pipeline, Altman or his organizations profit.
Create Problem, Sell Solution
Keya’s observation about manufactured urgency fits an established pattern in the investigation and merits documentation.
The premise: Worldcoin’s stated justification is that AI will make it impossible to distinguish humans from bots online, creating an identity crisis that requires biometric “proof of personhood.”
The pattern:
- Altman builds the problem (OpenAI): ChatGPT, GPT-4, and subsequent models create AI that can convincingly impersonate humans. GPT-4 literally pretended to be blind to trick a human into solving a CAPTCHA on its behalf. OpenAI’s products are the primary drivers of the AI identity crisis that Worldcoin claims to solve.
- Altman declares the crisis with urgency: “As we embark on the age of AI, it is imperative that individuals are able to maintain personal privacy while proving their humanness.” The urgency framing positions iris scanning as an emergency response to a threat created by the same person’s other company.
- Altman offers his solution (Worldcoin): The Orb. Scan your eyeballs. Prove you’re human. Get a token. The solution was conceived in 2019 and has been in development for years — it was ready before the “crisis” it claims to address became acute.
- The solution requires global biometric enrollment: To work as proof of personhood at scale, Worldcoin needs to scan every adult on Earth. The scope of the data collection is inherent to the pitch — partial enrollment doesn’t solve the stated problem.
Critic Molly White wrote directly: Worldcoin is “a solution in search of its problem.” The project “doesn’t seem to know what problem it’s trying to solve, but they want to scan your eyeballs anyway.” [17]
Alternatives exist that don’t require iris scanning. BrightID uses social-graph verification (existing verified humans vouch for new users). Proof of Humanity uses video uploads combined with vouching. These systems solve the same proof-of-personhood problem without creating a global biometric database. Even Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged that social-graph approaches may offer “better privacy and decentralization” than biometric solutions. [18]
The question is not whether proof of personhood is useful — it may be. The question is whether the person who created the problem (AI impersonation), declared the emergency (proof of personhood is “imperative”), and built the solution (iris scanning + crypto) should be the one controlling the global biometric identity layer. Especially when less invasive alternatives exist and the “solution” was designed before the emergency was declared.
This pattern — create problem, declare urgency, sell solution — also appears elsewhere in the investigation: OpenAI creates AI displacement → OpenResearch proves UBI is needed → Worldcoin builds the distribution infrastructure. TrialSpark identifies clinical trial recruitment as “broken” → offers its platform as the fix → charges pharmaceutical companies for access. The structural pattern recurs.
The MIT Technology Review Investigation
Who Investigated and Why
The investigation was conducted by Eileen Guo, senior reporter for features and investigations at MIT Technology Review, with freelance reporter Adi Renaldi (based in Indonesia). Guo’s background includes freelancing for The New York Times, Washington Post, National Geographic, and Wired. Critically, she also reported on “the real story of the Afghan biometric databases abandoned to the Taliban” — giving her direct expertise in what happens to biometric data collected from vulnerable populations when institutional safeguards fail. [19] [23]
The investigation was reporter-initiated. Guo wrote: “When venture-backed crypto startup Worldcoin announced a new cryptocurrency that would be universally and freely distributed, in exchange for a biometric scan, and that it would be testing primarily in the developing world, I had questions.” She assembled a cross-border reporting team. The result was a 7,000-word investigation published online and in MIT Technology Review’s print Money issue. [23]
MIT Technology Review’s institutional position: MIT Technology Review also claims to have been “first to report on OpenAI’s internal conflicts around its mission” and provided the most detailed week-by-week trial coverage of Musk v. Altman. The publication has deep access to the AI industry, which enables strong reporting but also creates proximity to the entities being covered. MIT as an institution has its own tech industry relationships (the MIT Media Lab accepted funding from Jeffrey Epstein; MIT alumni populate the AI industry’s leadership). The Worldcoin investigation appears to be genuine investigative journalism initiated by a reporter with relevant expertise, but the institutional context is worth noting for a reader evaluating source independence. [24]
What the Investigation Found
In April 2022, based on interviews with over 35 individuals in six countries (Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Chile, Norway), the investigation found: [19] [20]
Deceptive marketing: Worldcoin’s representatives used deceptive marketing practices to recruit participants. Spanish-language speakers were given terms of service in English.
Excessive data collection: Worldcoin collected more personal data than it publicly acknowledged — including heartbeat, breathing, and other vital signs — without obtaining meaningful informed consent. The iris scans were not the only biometric data being captured.
Exploitation of poverty: The investigation documented that Worldcoin’s test markets (Indonesia, Kenya, Sudan, Ghana, Chile) were disproportionately low or lower-middle income countries. MIT wrote: “Simply put, it’s just cheaper and easier to run this kind of data collection operation in places where people have little money and few legal protections.” [19]
Informed consent failure: Participants did not understand what they were consenting to. Many could not explain what cryptocurrency was, what an iris scan would be used for, or what rights they were giving up. The consent was not “informed” in any meaningful sense. [19] [20]
Operator exploitation: Orb operators earned money per scan — creating financial incentives that prioritized volume over consent quality. A bug was later discovered allowing operators to create multiple World IDs for the same person, which Kenyan operators exploited. [21]
Black market iris sales: People in Cambodia and Kenya were selling their iris data for as little as $30 to speculators on the black market. [20]
Data used to train AI models: Beyond the iris scanning, Worldcoin was using test users’ sensitive but anonymized data to train artificial intelligence models — and individuals did not know their data was being used that way. The biometric data collected from developing world populations was feeding AI development without the knowledge or consent of the people scanned. [24]
Edward Snowden’s warning: The same person whose surveillance revelations destroyed the Safe Harbor framework warned about Worldcoin in 2022: “Don’t catalogue eyeballs.” Snowden noted that even if Worldcoin deleted the raw iris images, they retained the hashes — “Hashes that match future scans.” [20]
US exclusion: While Worldcoin scanned eyes in developing nations with weak privacy laws, US-based users were “not even allowed to participate in the airdrop due to privacy laws.” The company that operated in countries where people “have little money and few legal protections” excluded its own country’s citizens because US privacy laws were too strong. Textbook regulatory arbitrage. [20]
Corporate Partnerships (2026)
Despite being banned or restricted in eight countries, Worldcoin/World has signed partnership agreements with major American corporations: [22]
In April 2026, World announced strategic partnerships with Tinder (dating), Zoom (video conferencing), and DocuSign (document signing) to use World ID for user verification — “aiming to reduce deepfakes, scams, and other fraudulent activity.”
The biometric identity project that Germany ruled non-GDPR-compliant, that Kenya suspended, that Spain banned, and that MIT found used deceptive practices in developing nations is now being integrated into mainstream American corporate products used by hundreds of millions of people. The banned technology is being laundered through corporate partnerships. [22]
Regulatory Actions — Country by Country
Worldcoin has faced regulatory action in at least eight countries: [4] [8] [9]
| Country | Regulator | Action | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya | Office of the Data Protection Commissioner | Suspended operations. Ordered data collection to stop (Worldcoin initially did not comply). Multi-agency investigation launched. | Aug 2023 |
| Germany | BayLDA (Bavarian State Office for Data Protection) | Investigation since April 2023. Ordered stricter data protection measures. Ruled Worldcoin “does not comply with GDPR.” | 2023-2024 |
| Spain | AEPD | Temporary ban on iris biometric collection using “urgency procedure” powers. Worldcoin sued the regulator. | Mar 2024 |
| France | CNIL | Investigation opened into privacy concerns. | Jul 2023 |
| UK | ICO | Investigation opened into privacy concerns. | Jul 2023 |
| Portugal | CNPD | Investigation into GDPR compliance. | 2023 |
| Brazil | — | Suspended operations. | 2023 |
| India | — | Stopped offline verifications. | 2023 |
| South Korea | PIPC | Investigation opened. | 2023 |
Despite these actions, Worldcoin launched in the United States on May 1, 2025, with Orb locations in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco, and announced a debit card partnership with Visa. [8]
The GDPR Violations
The Right to Erasure Conflict
Worldcoin’s biometric data consent form contains a bolded warning: users who scan their irises will have an iris code created that “cannot be deleted anymore (if we were to delete it, the proof of uniqueness would not work).” This directly conflicts with GDPR Article 17, which guarantees the right to erasure. You cannot simultaneously claim GDPR compliance and tell users their biometric data is permanent and non-deletable. [10]
The Corporate Restructuring Defense
Worldcoin has restructured its data controller designation multiple times to evade regulatory accountability: [9] [11]
- Initially: Worldcoin Foundation was the data controller
- Then: Tools for Humanity GmbH (German subsidiary) designated as sole data controller for EU operations
- Then: Introduced “AMPC” (Anonymized Multi-Party Computation), arguing data is anonymized once it leaves the Orb device, removing GDPR applicability entirely
Spain’s regulator found the AMPC documentation insufficient to resolve risk profile questions. Germany’s regulator explicitly rejected the GDPR compliance claim. [9] [11]
The European Pivot
Worldcoin is now pivoting away from Europe and expanding in Latin America, Africa, and Asia — regions where biometric privacy regulation is less developed and where populations have less political power to resist iris-scanning operations. This mirrors the pattern documented elsewhere in this investigation: test on vulnerable populations with fewer alternatives. [12]
The WLD Token
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Blockchain | Optimism (Layer 2 Ethereum) |
| Price decline | 97% from peak |
| Investor allocation | 14% of all WLD tokens earmarked for investors |
| US availability | Not originally available; launched May 2025 |
| FTX estate holdings | $185M+ in WLD tokens sent to SBF-linked wallets |
The token’s 97% price decline from its peak represents one of the largest value destructions among VC-backed crypto projects. Early users who scanned their irises for tokens received assets that have lost nearly all their value. [13]
Merge Labs — The Brain-Computer Interface
In addition to Tools for Humanity, Altman and Blania co-founded Merge Labs, a company aiming to non-invasively connect human brains with computers. Merge Labs raised a $252 million seed round with a significant investment from OpenAI. [3]
This creates another Altman conflict: the CEO of OpenAI (which invested in Merge Labs) is also the co-founder of Merge Labs. OpenAI invested in its CEO’s side project. The same pattern documented with Helion, Oklo, and Formation Bio — Altman’s institutional role at OpenAI being used to direct resources to his personal ventures.
Key People
| Person | Role | Network Connection |
|---|---|---|
| Sam Altman | Co-founder, Chairman | OpenAI CEO. OpenResearch founder. Helion chairman (former). Hydrazine Capital. Personal investment portfolio of 400+ companies. |
| Alex Blania | Co-founder, CEO | Caltech + University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Also co-founded Merge Labs with Altman. |
| Max Novendstern | Co-founder (departed 2021) | Fintech entrepreneur. Left early in the project’s development. |
| Damien Kieran | Chief Privacy/Legal Officer (TFH) | Manages GDPR defense. Responded to German regulator’s ruling. |
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2019 | Tools for Humanity founded by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, Alex Blania |
| Oct 2021 | Series A: $25M at $1B. Investors include SBF and Three Arrows Capital. |
| 2021 | Max Novendstern departs |
| Mar 2022 | Series B: $100M at $3B. a16z, Khosla Ventures. |
| Jun 2022 | Three Arrows Capital collapses |
| Nov 2022 | FTX collapses. SBF arrested. |
| May 2023 | Series C: $115M led by Blockchain Capital |
| Jul 2023 | Worldcoin launches publicly. France and UK open investigations. |
| Aug 2023 | Kenya suspends operations. Brazil suspends. India stops offline verifications. $185M in WLD sent to SBF-linked wallets. |
| Mar 2024 | Spain temporarily bans iris collection. Worldcoin sues regulator. |
| Oct 2024 | Rebranded to “World” / “World Network” |
| Dec 2024 | Germany rules Worldcoin “does not comply with GDPR.” Orders stricter measures. |
| Jan 2026 | Paul Grewal (Coinbase CLO, Coinbase Ventures = WLD investor) joins VotingWorks board |
| May 2025 | US launch: Atlanta, Austin, LA, Miami, Nashville, SF. Visa debit card announced. |
| 2026 | WLD token 97% below peak. European pivot underway. |
Nodes and Open Questions
- The OpenAI → Merge Labs investment: OpenAI invested in Merge Labs, which was co-founded by OpenAI’s own CEO (Altman). Was this investment disclosed to and approved by OpenAI’s board? Is this the same self-dealing pattern as the OpenResearch → TrialSpark grant?
- The SBF/FTX token holdings: $185M in WLD tokens were sent to SBF-linked wallets. Who controls those tokens now (FTX estate, creditors)? Do convicted fraudsters’ estates hold governance influence over a global biometric identity system?
- Coinbase → VotingWorks: Coinbase Ventures invested in Worldcoin. Coinbase’s CLO now sits on VotingWorks’ board. The investor in the iris-scanning identity project has governance representation at the voting machine company. If “proof of personhood” ever becomes a component of voting systems, this structural proximity matters.
- The 14% investor allocation: 14% of all WLD tokens are earmarked for investors, including entities linked to convicted fraudsters. The people whose irises were scanned received tokens that lost 97% of their value. The investors who funded the scanning received tokens allocated from the total supply. Who benefited from the iris scanning?
- Where does the iris data actually go? Worldcoin claims data is processed on-device and not stored. Germany’s regulator disagrees. The AMPC anonymization defense has not been accepted by any EU regulator. If iris codes ARE stored somewhere, who has access? Can law enforcement, intelligence agencies, or commercial partners access the biometric database?
- The developing world targeting: Worldcoin launched first in Kenya, Nigeria, and other developing nations — offering cryptocurrency tokens to people in exchange for iris scans. These populations are the least likely to understand the value of their biometric data and the most likely to accept small payments for it. Is this informed consent or economic exploitation of biometric data?
- The UBI closed loop: If AI-funded UBI is ever implemented using Worldcoin’s infrastructure, Altman would control the AI that displaces workers (OpenAI), the research that justifies UBI (OpenResearch), the identity system that verifies recipients (World ID), and the payment rail that distributes funds (WLD). One person would control every component of the economic displacement and compensation system.
Sources
- [Archive] (https://fintechmagazine.com/articles/in-depth-worldcoin-the-altman-co-founded-crypto-project)
- [Archive] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_(blockchain))
- [Archive] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Blania)
- [Archive] (https://time.com/6300522/worldcoin-sam-altman/)
- [Archive] (https://tracxn.com/d/companies/worldcoin/__04DFBMSer1_mFzVYYaora76LNxlcciVPTPL6le4ZPAU)
- [Archive] (https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/02/19/worldcoins-rocketing-wld-token-could-benefit-creditors-of-three-arrows-capital-ftx)
- [Archive] (https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/03/22/worldcoin-to-raise-100m-at-3b-token-valuation-report)
- [Archive] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldcoin)
- [Archive] (https://ppc.land/spains-data-regulator-warns-worlds-iris-scan-operator-over-gdpr-risks/)
- [Archive] (https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/28/world-gdpr-concerns/)
- [Archive] (https://www.biometricupdate.com/202412/world-does-not-comply-with-gdpr-says-german-regulator)
- [Archive] (https://www.biometricupdate.com/202410/worldcoin-pivots-away-from-europe-amid-tangle-of-gdpr-problems)
- [Archive] (https://www.tradingkey.com/analysis/cryptocurrencies/more/261747012-openai-worldcoin-ai-wld-sora-sam-altman-ipo-chatgpt-tradingkey)
- [Archive] (https://protos.com/worldcoin-has-an-optics-problem/)
- [Archive] (https://www.fortune.com/crypto/2023/05/25/sam-altman-eyeball-scanning-crypto-worldcoin-series-c-ai)
- Prior investigation sessions — VotingWorks profile (Grewal board appointment), crypto VC vacuum concepts page, OpenResearch UBI documentation
- [Archive] (https://www.citationneeded.news/worldcoin-a-solution-in-search-of/)
- [Archive] (https://blockchain.news/news/vitalik-buterin-discusses-biometric-proof-of-personhood)
- [Archive] (https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/06/1048981/worldcoin-cryptocurrency-biometrics-web3/)
- [Archive] (https://cryptobriefing.com/worldcoins-shady-history-and-data-collection-practices-mit-technology-review/)
- [Archive] (https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/promise-peril-worldcoin/)
- [Archive] (https://restofworld.org/2026/sam-altman-worldcoin-zoom-tinder-partnerships/)
- [Archive] (https://www.eileenguo.com/) — Eileen Guo personal site, investigation description, Afghan biometric databases reporting
- [Archive] (https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/07/1077250/worldcoin-officially-launched-why-its-being-investigated/) — MIT Technology Review follow-up, AI model training revelation, institutional claim re OpenAI reporting