Worldcoin (World Network) (WLD) is the native token of World Network, a proof-of-personhood project built by Tools for Humanity. It uses iris-scanning "Orb" hardware and the World ID protocol to verify unique human identity without relying on traditional documents.
WLD is an ERC-20 token deployed on Ethereum (mainnet) at token generation on July 17, 2023, and is also officially bridged to Optimism and to World Chain, the project's own OP Stack layer-2 network.
Worldcoin differentiates itself by pairing a token with a hardware-verified proof-of-personhood system, using the Orb device and World ID to distinguish unique humans from bots and duplicate accounts.
This identity layer underpins World Chain, the project's Optimism-stack layer-2 network, which as of August 2026 carries roughly $56.15M in total value locked and processes around 596,454 daily transactions ecosystem-wide, though this L2 activity remains small relative to WLD's own market capitalization.
WLD functions as both a utility and governance-oriented token within World Network, used to reward verified humans and pay for services within the World App.
A governance role letting holders participate in protocol decisions is described as an intended future function; no live on-chain voting mechanism for WLD holders was operating as of 2026-08-31.
WLD has a hard-capped maximum/total supply of 10,000,000,000 tokens, with circulating supply of approximately 3.62 billion WLD as of 2026-08-31.
Net emission is inflationary while scheduled unlocks continue toward the fixed 10 billion cap.
Tools for Humanity raised a $115 million Series C round in May 2023, led by Blockchain Capital, ahead of WLD's token generation on Ethereum on July 17, 2023.
Bain Capital Crypto, a16z, and Distributed Global also participated in the round; Tools for Humanity was founded in 2019, and WLD's public launch was announced July 24, 2023.
Cumulative venture funding into Tools for Humanity prior to token launch is cited at approximately $250 million.
In May 2025, World/Tools for Humanity conducted a further $135 million WLD token sale to existing backers a16z and Bain Capital Crypto to fund US expansion.
WLD's canonical token was deployed as an ERC-20 on Ethereum (mainnet) at token generation.
It is also officially bridged and mirrored to Optimism and to World Chain, an OP Stack layer-2 network launched by Tools for Humanity in 2024-2025, with all three deployments treated as one multi-deployed asset sharing identical name, symbol, and branding.
Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin/World Network, was founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern.
Alex Blania serves as CEO of Tools for Humanity and Sam Altman, also CEO of OpenAI, serves as Chairman.
Two entities maintain World Network today: Tools for Humanity, a for-profit company, and the Worldcoin Foundation, a non-profit.
Tools for Humanity builds the Orb hardware, World App, and World ID technology, while the Foundation stewards the protocol.
The Worldcoin Foundation holds and distributes the token's "Community" allocation and is intended to support the network until it becomes self-sufficient.
World Network is currently governed directly by the Worldcoin Foundation rather than through a live on-chain DAO or WLD holder voting mechanism.
The project has stated a roadmap toward "progressive decentralization" and floated a longer-term hybrid design combining conventional one-token-one-vote with a "one-person-one-vote" mechanism enabled by World ID, but neither mechanism is operating yet.
An "Orb Mini," a portable identity-verification device, is slated to begin shipping in 2026.
In mid-2026, Grayscale filed with the US SEC for what would be the first US-listed Worldcoin (WLD) exchange-traded fund.
Nethermind audited Worldcoin's smart contracts beginning April 2023, covering World ID contracts, the state bridge, and the WLD ERC-20 token and vesting contracts. The audit surfaced 26 issues, of which 24 were fixed and the remainder mitigated or acknowledged.
Least Authority separately audited the project's Semaphore-based cryptography, identifying 3 issues, all resolved. CertiK disclosed a since-fixed Orb-operator onboarding vulnerability.