Worldcoin, a crypto project co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, has announced the creation of a new blockchain called World Chain. This blockchain is designed to bring all humans onchain, with the goal of scaling Worldcoin and the broader Ethereum network to accommodate 1 billion users and beyond. The team expects the developer preview of World Chain to be released soon, with the full launch scheduled for later this year. As Worldcoin user transactions currently account for a significant portion of activity on the Optimism network, the team believes it is time to migrate to a dedicated network to provide more meaningful gains.
The World Chain aims to prioritize transactions from verified humans to address issues such as network congestion and high fees resulting from bots. The chain will provide verified humans with free gas allowances for casual transactions and priority blockspace over bots, ultimately seeking to cover gas costs through fees from bots and power users. While ETH will remain the native token, users will be able to pay fees using WLD, the new token. The team also plans to enable developers to reach millions of real users worldwide with apps focused on real-world utility, positioning World Chain as an ecosystem of decentralized financial and identity apps.
World Chain will have a specific focus on utility for everyday life, rather than attempting to cover every possible blockchain use case. The project will leverage World ID’s Sybil resistance to build ecosystem elements around Worldcoin, stablecoins, payments, rewards, ramps, lending, swapping, and more. The chain will be integrated with the Worldcoin protocol and use World ID’s Proof of Personhood for sybil-resistant apps. Additionally, World Chain will be permissionless and open source, with the community owning and governing the ecosystem. Ethereum will secure the chain as a Layer-2 solution, designed for scalability alongside the Superchain ecosystem, while World ID and WLD will be available for use on networks beyond World Chain as neutral public goods.
Worldcoin, the project that launched in July 2023, has seen significant growth with 10 million users in 160 countries creating a World ID and compatible wallet. These users have conducted 75 million transactions using their wallets. However, the price of WLD, the project’s token, has experienced fluctuations, currently trading at $4.95 with a decrease of 0.8% in the past 24 hours. The token reached an all-time high of $11.74 in March 2024 but has since dropped nearly 60%. Despite the price volatility, the team continues to develop World Chain to provide a scalable and user-friendly blockchain solution for millions of real users globally.
In conclusion, World Chain represents a new blockchain ecosystem designed to bring real-world utility to everyday users through decentralized financial and identity apps. The project prioritizes transactions from verified humans to address network congestion and high fees caused by bots, aiming to create a more inclusive and scalable platform for global adoption. With a focus on utility and sybil-resistant applications, World Chain integrates with the Worldcoin protocol and leverages World ID and WLD to provide a secure and open-source ecosystem governed by the community. As the project continues to develop and grow, it aims to provide developers with the tools to reach millions of users worldwide, further expanding the potential impact of blockchain technology.
