The CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI is reportedly set to raise $100 million for his Worldcoin project.
Sam Altman founded Worldcoin – which scans eyeballs using orbs to confirm identity and aims to create collectively owned and globally distributed cryptocurrency – with Alex Blania and Max Novendstern.
A previous Series A funding round was led by a16z and included Digital Currency Group, Coinbase Ventures, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried – facing trial on fraud charges following the collapse of the exchange – and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
A Financial Times source claimed the funding would come from both existing and new investors.
Worldcoin recruits operators of orbs which are used to confirm the identity and capture the iris pattern of people who look into them. Once someone has done this, they can use the recently launched World App digital wallet to obtain Worldcoin tokens and send digital money anywhere, without gas fees.
The company says it is preparing to launch its blockchain protocol and commence recording transactions within “the next six weeks”.