OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman recently closed a successful Series C funding round for a cryptocurrency project he co-founded called Worldcoin. The $115 million funding round was led by Blockchain Capital and includes investments from leading entities such as a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global.
Worldcoin’s mission is to provide a public utility to offer universal access to the global economy regardless of geographic location or background. Their goal is to distribute ‘tokens’ to people to act as ownership and identity confirmation, with users having their irises scanned. The tokens are free and will be available to people outside of the United States as well as other restricted countries.
The project has faced criticism for what some believe to be privacy risks. When Altman announced the project back in 2021, former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden took to Twitter to address the Tokenomics, stating, “Don’t catalogue eyeballs.”
At this time, there currently is no connection between OpenAI and the Worldcoin project.
Altman has an impressive portfolio to his name, having held various executive roles with OpenAI for the past six years. The technology trend-setter has invested heavily in numerous startups and tech-driven companies, with his successes having been cited in The Financial Times, Forbes and Wired. He also serves on the boards of multiple technology companies and is currently a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
