Worldcoin’s Potential Partnerships with PayPal and OpenAI

Worldcoin, the iris-scanning project led by Sam Altman, is reportedly eyeing partnerships with major tech and finance companies such as PayPal and OpenAI. The company behind Worldcoin, Tools for Humanity, has hinted at potential collaborations with these industry giants, as reported by Bloomberg.

According to Tools for Humanity’s CEO, Alex Blania, discussions have taken place with OpenAI regarding a partnership, although no official announcement has been made yet. Conversations have also been held with PayPal, but concrete developments have not materialized at this time.

While PayPal and OpenAI have not provided immediate comments on these potential partnerships, Worldcoin has a history of collaboration with major tech firms. In the past, Worldcoin worked with cybersecurity firm Okta to create a “sign in with Worldcoin” authentication service, offering an alternative to similar tools by Apple and Google.

Tools for Humanity’s funding round in October 2021, which valued the company at $1 billion, saw participation from Three Arrows and early investment from FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried.

What is Worldcoin?

Worldcoin is described as a “free, privacy-preserving, open protocol intended to be the world’s largest identity and financial public network.” The project aims to verify an individual’s uniqueness in an era of bots and deepfakes by capturing biometric data through an orb scan. This data is then converted into a code that serves as a unique human identifier, stored in the World App. Users are rewarded with Worldcoin tokens for participating in the scan.

Despite its innovative approach, Worldcoin has faced challenges, with some European countries banning the use of the orbs due to concerns about data privacy. Additionally, criticisms have been raised regarding the potential conflict of interest given Altman’s involvement with OpenAI, a company tackling similar technological issues.

As Worldcoin seeks to drive adoption and expand its offerings, the recent announcement of World Chain, a permissionless, open-source layer-2 blockchain expected to launch in mid-2024, aims to further integrate the protocol and incentivize users with a World ID.

As the market cap of Worldcoin tokens fluctuates and interest in the project evolves, the potential partnerships with PayPal and OpenAI could signal a new chapter in Worldcoin’s development and adoption within the tech and finance sectors.