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Binance to List Worldcoin as Altman’s Orb-Based Project Goes Live

Tim Fries

Published: July 24, 2023 6:55 am

Last Updated: July 24, 2023 9:59 am

Binance announced it would list two spot trading pairs for the Worldcoin token, the native crypto asset of Worldcoin – a digital identity project co-founded by artificial intelligence (AI) programmer and entrepreneur Sam Altman. Worldcoin, which developed a new and somewhat controversial approach to solving identity and income inequality issues, launched on Monday. In May, Worldcoin unveiled World App, a gas-free crypto wallet, which migrated from Polygon to Optimism.

Binance to Add WLD/BTC and WLD/USDT Trading Pairs

Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency launched by Sam Altman’s namesake digital ID project, will be listed on Binance at 9 am UTC on July 24, the crypto exchange said in an announcement. According to the statement, Binance will support two spot trading pairs for the Worldcoin token, including WLD/BTC and WLD/USDT.

The move comes on the same day the much-debated Worldcoin project launched. Founded by Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Worldcoin is building a World ID – an account that can be created only by real humans.

To acquire a World ID, users must offer an in-person iris scan using the project’s ‘Orb,’ product. Once the Orb completes the iris scan and verifies that the person is an actual human, it creates a World ID. Through this approach, Worldcoin ensures that a user can have only one World ID.

During the project’s beta phase, Worldcoin launched “orbing” operations in several countries, allowing users from those places to come get their World ID and reward them with WLD tokens once the sign-up process is completed. With today’s launch, Worldcoin is scaling up the orbing initiative, expanding it to 35 cities across 20 countries.

Worldcoin Controversy

The rollout of Worldcoin and its native crypto token comes after the project faced intense scrutiny in Silicon Valley due to its unconventional approach to resolving identity verification and income inequality problems.

Critics viciously slammed the project on multiple fronts, including violation of privacy as well as its long-term goal of introducing a universal basic income (UBI) – a social welfare system in which all citizens of a country receive a regular and unconditional cash payment from the government to help them cover essential needs. Sam Altman has been a long-time proponent of the UBI system, while some see it as a flawed idea.

While many continue to debate Worldcoin’s core aims, the project’s native token will be listed on the world’s largest crypto exchange. At the time of publication, the WLD token was trading at $2.44, up more than 46% since its launch.

This article originally appeared on The Tokenist