The Worldcoin project, spearheaded by Sam Altman of OpenAI, is entering a critical phase with the scheduled unlocking of Worldcoin tokens for early contributors starting July 24.
The project earlier today announced a significant extension in the unlock period for 80% of the tokens held by team members, lengthening the duration “from 3 years to 5 years.”
As Worldcoin prepares for this pivotal transition, the market has reacted positively to the news. Over the past 24 hours alone, the Worldcoin token (WLD) has seen a surge of over 30%, now trading at $2.67.
This price performance is notable as it marks a recovery against the token’s recent slump, dropping as low as below $2 last week.
Details Of The Distribution
Worldcoin’s unique method of distributing tokens involves a human verification process where individuals are assigned World IDs after their irises are scanned by a device known as the orb.
Although this process has been “deleted,” as recently reported by Bitcoinist, more than 211 million WLD tokens have already been claimed by verified World ID holders, representing over 77% of the current supply of 275 million WLD tokens.
The initiative is being made possible by Tools for Humanity, led by CEO Alex Blania, and is positioned as a pioneering effort to integrate advanced technology with cryptocurrency incentives.
According to the latest announcement, the upcoming token unlock will see investors and Tools for Humanity team members having their first distributions of WILD minted into the supply. The project noted:
Starting on July 24, 2024, approximately 2M WLD held by TFH investors and team members will unlock every day. The extended unlock schedule has reduced this number by approximately 40% from the original amount (approximately 3.3M WLD per day).
Sharing a chart on the forecasted circulating supply, Worldcoin added in the announcement: “As the figure shows, the extended unlock schedule has the effect of slowing the increase in circulating supply.”
Notably, this is a timely move to promote long-term success across the project’s ecosystem, as both the Worldcoin Foundation and its collaborator, World Assets, hold an extensive community fund amounting to 7.22 billion WLD designated explicitly for this purpose.
By controlling the release of these funds, the organization aims to minimize potential market disruptions while contributing back to the project infrastructure or community initiatives.
Worldcoin Continous Regulatory Struggle
Regardless of Worldcoin’s updates, such as this latest one, the project has continued to witness regulatory struggles in different regions due to privacy concerns.
Earlier in June, the project halted its operation in Spain until at least the end of 2024. This move came in response to a reportedly ongoing probe by the Spanish Agency for Data Protection (AEPD) into the company’s data collection and processing practices.
Before this, the project had also recently received an order from Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) to cease operation in the region.
The cease order came against the backdrop of Hong Kong’s PCPD announcing at the beginning of the year that it would investigate Worldcoin’s activities as they could pose a “risk to personal data privacy.”
Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView