The mission of the Worldcoin project is to establish the world’s largest identity and financial network as a public utility, providing ownership to everyone. The Worldcoin system is centered around World ID, a privacy-preserving global identity network. World ID allows users to verify their humanness online ("Proof of Personhood") while ensuring privacy through zero-knowledge proofs. To interact with the Worldcoin protocol, individuals must first download World App, the inaugural wallet app that facilitates the creation of a World ID. Individuals visit a physical imaging device known as the Orb to obtain their World ID *Orb-verified*. Most Orbs are managed by a network of independent local businesses known as Orb Operators. The Orb employs multispectral sensors to verify both humanness and uniqueness, with all images being immediately deleted on-device by default (unless explicit consent to Data Custody is provided). All Orb-verified World ID holders have the right to claim recurring distributions of free WLD tokens (WLD tokens are not available in the US; refer to the Worldcoin Tokenomics section of the project’s whitepaper for details). This provision holds the potential to make WLD the most broadly distributed digital currency. The WLD token is structured as a utility token with governance attributes, enabling users to have a say in the protocol’s future. Beyond standard "one-token-one-vote" governance systems, the inclusion of World ID introduces possibilities for "one-person-one-vote" mechanisms. These two mechanisms can also be combined to facilitate new modes of governance. Following the launch, the Worldcoin Foundation will invite proposals and collaborate with the community on how World ID and the WLD token should interact within Worldcoin's governance model (refer to the project's whitepaper for further details on governance and decentralization). The community of users will decide the token's utility, though additional use cases besides governance could arise. For instance, users might choose to utilize the WLD token to pay for specific actions within the World App or another wallet app, to conduct other transactions, or to demonstrate their support for certain initiatives or causes. WLD is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum. Users will receive their grants on the Optimism Mainnet, suggesting that most WLD transactions will likely be executed on the Optimism network.

Worldcoin was established by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern, although Max Novendstern departed the project in July 2021. Sam Altman, the most prominent of the co-founders, is also the co-founder and current CEO of OpenAI and the former president of the startup incubator Y Combinator. The initial research and development for the Worldcoin project were carried out by Tools for Humanity (TFH) in collaboration with other partners. Worldcoin has successfully raised over 250 million USD through multiple funding rounds, attracting investments from notable entities such as a16z, Khosla Ventures, Bain Capital Crypto, Blockchain Capital, and Tiger Global, among others.

Worldcoin is focused on establishing the world's largest identity and financial network, aiming for truly global adoption reaching a scale of one billion individuals. Unlike most other cryptocurrency projects, a significant portion of WLD tokens will be distributed to people simply for being human. Through World ID, individuals can authenticate their identity as real and unique humans to any platform integrating with the protocol, including web3 systems, social networking sites, and government programs. This functionality will facilitate equitable airdrops or token/NFT sales, protect against bots and sybil attacks on social media, and promote fair distribution of limited governmental resources. Additionally, World ID could enable global democratic processes and new forms of governance, such as quadratic voting, and might ultimately support the development of AI-funded universal basic income (UBI). During the pre-launch phase, from May 2021 to July 2023, more than two million people across over 30 countries and five continents verified their identities using an Orb. With its official launch, Worldcoin is deploying 1,500 Orbs in over 35 cities across 20 countries to accommodate the global demand for World ID.

The initial total supply of Worldcoin is 10 billion WLD. For 15 years following the launch, the supply cap is fixed at 10 billion WLD, enforced by the WLD smart contract. After this period, governance may decide to implement an inflation rate of up to 1.5% per year, should it be necessary for the long-term sustainability of the protocol. Governance will also determine the allocation of any newly minted tokens. This inflation cap of 1.5% per year is enforced by the WLD smart contract. By default, unless altered through governance, the inflation rate is set to 0%. The allocation of the 10 billion WLD tokens is distributed among various stakeholders as follows: * 75% of the WLD tokens are allocated to the Worldcoin community. * 9.8% of the WLD tokens are allocated to the Initial Development Team. * 13.5% of the WLD tokens are allocated to TFH Investors. * 1.7% of the WLD tokens are allocated to the TFH Reserve. The Worldcoin Foundation has outlined an aspirational token allocation objective, which aims to distribute at least 60% of all WLD tokens (sourced from the Worldcoin Community pool) to individuals in the form of user grants. For further details, refer to the Worldcoin Tokenomics section of the project's whitepaper. For live on-chain data about WLD, refer to this Dune dashboard.

The WLD token contract is deployed on the Ethereum Mainnet and is bridged to the Optimism "layer 2" network. Consequently, it benefits from the security attributes of both blockchains.