Sam Altman’s World Crypto Project Launches in US with Eye-Scanning Orbs
Sam Altman’s controversial blockchain project, World, is expanding its operations to the United States, announcing plans to deploy 7,500 eye-scanning ‘orbs’ in major cities across the country by the end of 2025. The project, which aims to verify human identity in an age of artificial intelligence, is initially launching in six ‘key innovation hubs’: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco.
The orbs, chrome devices that scan a person’s eyeballs to confirm their identity, will provide users with access to the World app and an airdrop of the project’s WLD token. By the end of the year, World aims to have enough orbs distributed throughout the US to give over 180 million Americans access to its network.
The expansion was announced at a press conference in San Francisco, where Altman and other executives revealed a slew of new features and partnerships for the project. The World app will now offer crypto-backed loans through Morpho and prediction markets through Kalshi. Additionally, WLD holders will soon be able to spend their tokens like cash using a new World-linked Visa debit card.
Altman explained that the concept for World predated his work on OpenAI, his generative AI company. ‘We needed some sort of way for authenticating humans in the age of [artificial general intelligence],’ Altman said. ‘We wanted a way to make sure that humans stayed special and central in a world where the internet was going to have lots of AI-driven content.’
The project is also integrating its identity-verification technology into online dating apps, starting with Tinder users in Japan. Match Group will pilot World ID to verify user ages.
To support its US expansion, World announced it will build an orb factory in Richardson, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Following the initial rollout, other major cities including Seattle, Orlando, San Diego, and Las Vegas will receive the second wave of orbs.
Alex Blania, co-founder of Tools for Humanity, the parent company of World, stated, ‘They will really be everywhere… They will be in gas stations, convenience stores, and you will be able to verify within 10 minutes wherever you are.’
The launch of World in the US comes as the regulatory environment has become more favorable to crypto projects since President Donald Trump took office in January.
