Sam Altman, Now former CEO of OpenAIHe has left his position and is leaving its board of directors, according to what one of the companies said mail Friday. But questions about his role in other entities such as Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency project he co-founded, remain in the air as its token appears in the news.
Worldcoin token, WLD, falls more than 13% on the day, to $1.91, CoinMarketCap Data show up. When asked about Altman’s future at Worldcoin or his plans moving forward, Worldcoin did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
Altman’s cryptocurrency project raised $115 million in May in a Series C round led by Blockchain Capital. In March, TechCrunch reported that Altman was a member of Worldcoin’s board of directors, but was not involved in “day-to-day” operations.
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Worldcoin acquires users by scanning the iris through its Orb, which then assigns users an “iris code” or “World ID” that gives users access to the project’s app and provides them with a “digital passport,” Thiago Sada said, Head of Product at Worldcoin. He is a “Tools for Humanity” and a core Worldcoin contributor TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction Podcast in September. The verification process allegedly allows people to prove their identity, and an iris code is used to ensure they don’t get another identity.
In August, Worldcoin faced opposition from countries, including Kenya, which stopped the project from scanning more of their citizens’ eyes (and the project ignored initial requests). Worldcoin has faced backlash from critics, who claim the company is targeting developing economies. The project gives most participants (outside the US and some other countries) 25 WLD tokens, worth approximately $48, for signing up, which could be considered exploitative.
Sada said distributing free tokens and going to developing countries was fair because most projects, especially in the cryptocurrency and technology space, focus on emerging markets, as “those are the easiest markets to operate in.”
While OpenAI said on Friday that the board “no longer has confidence in… [Altman’s] ability to continue leading the company, its statement did not fully explain why Altman was fired or where it stands with other related organizations, such as Worldcoin.
The Worldcoin app has more than four million downloads, and its number of active users has “more than doubled” globally, according to A Blog post From the beginning of November. There are more than 2.4 million “unique humans” on Worldcoin, and in the last seven days at the time of writing, about 53,800 new accounts have been created, and there have been more than 59,000 daily wallet transactions, according to company data. website.