Worldcoin Goes Live in US: Visa Card, Stripe Payments, and Tinder Integration Fuel Crypto Adoption

Sam Altman’s controversial eyeball-scanning crypto project, Worldcoin, launches in the US with major fintech integrations—just as regulators sharpen their knives.

Visa card rollout lets users spend WLD tokens at 80M merchants globally, while Stripe handles fiat onramps. Most eyebrow-raising? Tinder’s experimental "Proof-of-Personhood" verification for dating profiles—because nothing says romance like blockchain-based biometrics.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of Worldcoin’s data collection practices, with EU regulators already probing its iris-scanning "Orbs." But hey, when has privacy ever stopped Silicon Valley from disrupting finance?

Worldcoin expands to the US with Orb rollout and Texas manufacturing hub

Worldcoin, now rebranded simply as World, officially launched in the US this week, marking a major milestone for Sam Altman and co-founder Alex Blania’s digital identity project. 

The announcement was made at the company’s “At Last” event, where executives detailed plans to expand World’s global proof-of-humanity network in response to surging AI-generated content.

The rollout will begin in six major cities: Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco. By the end of 2025, World plans to quadruple its global hardware footprint, with 7,500 biometric orbs deployed worldwide. To support this scale, a new manufacturing line has opened in Texas to assemble Orbs locally and for global distribution.

Orbs are chrome, spherical devices that scan users’ irises to verify identity and offer access to the World app and an airdrop of its native WLD token.

The company also introduced Orb Mini, a portable verification device set to begin shipping in 2026. Orb Mini enables a peer-to-peer verification model, letting verified users help others confirm their humanity—a move aimed at decentralizing trust and scaling identity authentication, particularly in the Global South.

Blania cited growing political clarity and regulatory progress in the US as key drivers of the launch, saying World’s conservative approach to regulation had finally found an encouraging environment.

Tinder, Razer, Stripe and Visa integrate World ID in next-gen Web3 partnerships

World’s expansion into the US is supported by major partnerships aimed at bringing decentralized identity into everyday applications. In gaming, Razer is embedding World ID across its ecosystem, enabling bot-resistant experiences and human-exclusive tournaments. Verified users will be eligible to join the upcoming League of Humans, a gaming series exclusive to humans authenticated by World Orbs.

In dating, Tinder’s parent company Match Group is piloting World ID in Japan to enhance age and identity verification. The integration is expected to expand to more Match platforms and international markets in 2026.

The World App and World’s flagship mobile wallet have also undergone major upgrades. New integrations include:

• Circle, for USDC-based payments and digital dollar access;
• Stripe, for seamless fiat ramps;
• Kalshi, enabling in-app access to prediction markets.

Most notably, World is preparing to launch a World Visa Card, starting with merchant integrations and rolling out to users in stages. The World ID initiative could integrate blockchain verification with mainstream commercial payments. 

WLD token gains as traders eye long-term role in World ecosystem

Despite the high-profile US launch, WLD has seen muted short-term price action, trading down 3% over 24 hours to $1.03.

As seen below, WLD traded within a $1.02–$1.07 range while volumes also flattened, suggesting a wait-and-see stance among investors after the 24-hour announcement. 

Worldcoin price action, Friday, May 2, 2025 | Coingecko

At press time, Worldcoin’s current market cap is approximately $195 million, placing it at 74th among global crypto assets, according to Coingecko data.

The WLD token is designed to function as the, the project’s custom blockchain.

Applications using World ID will pay fees in WLD. Those fees may be burned, redistributed, or allocated based on community governance, creating a closed economic loop.

Zooming out, WLD has returned 30.0% over the past month and an impressive 77.4% over the past year, reflecting growing interest in its long-term utility.

While initial WLD price action is subdued for now, the Sam Altman-led firm’s foray into the US establishes long-term growth factors tied to real-world integrations in identity, payments, and compliance.

WLD could emerge as a CORE asset in the Web3 identity stack, with long-term upside driven by mainstream and institutional integrations.