World Foundation Raises 8.6 Billion Yen to Expand Human ID Infrastructure in the AI Era

On the 24th, the World Foundation (formerly the Worldcoin Foundation) announced that it has raised $52.5 million (8.6 billion yen) in an initial close to expand its human ID infrastructure in response to the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) agents.

World ID is a technological foundation that allows individuals to prove their humanity without revealing personal information through one-time biometric authentication using a dedicated device called "Orb." It was developed as a mechanism to distinguish between impersonators, bots, and humans by combining encryption technology with decentralized confidential computing.

The fundraising was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, and Susquehanna Crypto. The raised WLD tokens are subject to a 12-month lock-up.

With the rapid proliferation of AI agents, it has become increasingly difficult to prove that actions such as viewing advertisements, using matching apps, voting, and video calls are performed by humans. In light of these challenges, the World Foundation explained that there is a growing demand for technology known as "Proof of Human."

Investor Comments

Cosmo Jan, General Partner at Pantera Capital, stated that the necessity of Proof of Human has become increasingly clear with the spread of AI, and adoption in the enterprise sector is on the rise.

Tom Lee, a director at Eightco Holdings, also expressed that World’s technology and the mechanism of Proof of Human play a crucial role as a foundation for identity verification in an increasingly digital society.

Expansion of Integrations and 3rd Anniversary

This year, World ID has been advancing integrations with major communication and authentication platforms such as Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel, and Tinder.

July 24 marks the third anniversary of World’s full-scale operation. Over 39 million people have participated in the World Network, with more than 18 million completing authentication with the Orb. The usage of World ID for proof has exceeded 470 million instances.

At the same time, "World ID 4.0" has been released to accommodate large-scale integrations for enterprises. Independent developers will be able to develop new proof qualifications within the zero-knowledge proof framework, expanding the scope of utilization.

The World Foundation is working to make the operation of the network economically self-sufficient by collecting protocol fees from applications rather than individuals.

The trend of U.S. venture capital in the cryptocurrency sector expanding investments into AI-related fields is also seen in other companies. Framework Ventures announced in June that it raised $400 million for its fourth fund targeting investments in blockchain, AI, robotics, and energy sectors.

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