World’s ’Proof of Human’ Identity Network Goes Live in US—Bots Sweat, Wall Street Shrugs
Decentralized identity protocol World just planted its flag in the US market—because nothing says ’trustless system’ like KYC requirements.
The move expands its Sybil-resistant network that uses biometrics and blockchain to separate humans from algorithms. Early adopters include DeFi platforms tired of airdrop farmers and NFT projects besieged by wash traders.
Meanwhile in traditional finance: bankers yawn while manually faxing their fifth identity verification this week.
Biometric Verification Across America
Americans will be able to verify their “World ID” beginning in six cities — Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco. The company plans to deploy 7,500 of its eye-scanning “Orb” devices across the U.S. by year’s end, quadrupling its current global deployment.
“America should lead innovation, not fight it off,” Altman said during the event. The company, founded NEAR San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood, had previously operated in over 160 countries but not in the U.S.
World also announced a partnership with Visa to launch a payment card that will connect to users’ World App wallets, enabling them to spend digital assets at over 150 million merchants worldwide. The World Card will offer rewards for AI-related purchases, with rewards paid directly in WLD tokens to users’ connected wallets. The card is expected to become available to U.S. users later this year.
Financial Integrations and Partnerships
In a separate financial development, the company revealed an integration with Circle to bring USDC stablecoin natively to the World Chain blockchain. The partnership will convert all existing bridged USDC held on World Chain to native USDC, which is backed by cash and cash-equivalent assets. The integration also introduces Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol V2 (CCTP V2) to enable faster, more cost-effective transfers across supported chains.
Other announcements included partnerships with Match Group to pilot World ID as an age verification solution for Tinder in Japan, and with Razer to implement “proof of human” verification in gaming to combat bots. The company also unveiled a DeFi lending platform called Morpho Mini App and a prediction market platform with Kalshi.
Rich Heley, who presented the Orb hardware update, announced that World will open its own assembly line in Richardson, Texas, with a U.S. manufacturer to produce Orbs not just for the American market but to help with global scale. The company also revealed plans for a miniature version of the Orb, called “Orb Mini,” that will allow for more distributed verification.
World, previously known as Worldcoin, has faced controversy over its biometric data collection practices in some countries. The company emphasizes that its verification system is designed to be privacy-preserving, with personal data remaining exclusively on users’ devices through what it calls “Personal Custody.”
The service currently has over 26 million users worldwide, with 12 million biometrically verified through its Orb scanning technology, according to company figures shared at the event.
