World Foundation has raised $52.5 million through a sale of WLD tokens. Pantera Capital led the funding round, which also included Bain Capital Crypto and Eightco Holdings. All tokens sold in the round will remain locked for one year.
The project formerly known as Worldcoin now operates under the name World following a rebrand. Its token continues to trade under the WLD ticker.
The foundation said Pantera Capital led the “first closing” of the round. Other investors included Bain Capital Crypto, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto and Eightco Holdings, a WLD treasury company listed on Nasdaq under the ORBS ticker. The foundation has yet to clarify whether it plans another closing.
World Foundation emphasized that the WLD tokens sold in the round serve a utility function within World Network. They provide no equity stake, profit entitlement or ownership rights in Tools for Humanity, the for-profit company behind the project.
The foundation will use the new capital to expand World ID adoption among businesses, individual users and artificial intelligence agents worldwide.
World ID expands into enterprise use
The token sale comes as World marks the third anniversary of its production launch. The foundation has shifted its attention from building the network toward increasing adoption of World ID.
The system allows users to prove that they are unique humans without revealing their identities. Users complete a one-time verification through a specialized device called the Orb, after which their World ID remains stored on their phones.
World Foundation says its open-source cryptography and multi-party computation systems protect users’ privacy throughout the process.
Pantera Capital General Partner Cosmo Jiang said the rapid development of artificial intelligence has made the need for “proof of human” increasingly clear. He added that growing interest from institutional users also reflects this demand.
Jiang said Pantera was pleased to continue supporting World’s mission at this stage of the project’s development.
Tom Lee, a board member at Eightco Holdings who also serves as chairman of Bitmine, described World’s proof-of-human technology as a critical building block for verifying interactions in an increasingly digital world.
World argues that AI bots, fake identities and deepfakes threaten a wide range of online activities. The project points to digital advertising, online dating, voting systems and video calls as areas where reliable human verification could become increasingly important.
World launched World ID 4.0 in April with enterprise integrations in mind. The latest version allows developers to build additional authentication layers on top of World ID using zero-knowledge proofs.
World ID currently supports integrations with platforms including Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel and Tinder.
According to the foundation, more than 39 million people have joined World Network, with 18 million completing Orb verification. The network has generated over 475 million World ID proofs since its launch.
Regulatory pressure continues
Sam Altman, Max Novendstern and Alex Blania founded World with the goal of helping people prove they are human while preserving their privacy in the age of artificial intelligence.
World Foundation now oversees protocol governance, ecosystem grants and network operations. Over time, the organization plans to fund its operations through commissions paid by applications using the network, reducing its reliance on fees charged directly to users.
Tools for Humanity, the for-profit company responsible for developing World’s hardware and software, has raised approximately $240 million in venture capital to date.
World Foundation and its affiliates had previously raised another $200 million through WLD token sales. Including the latest round, total funding associated with the project has reached approximately $492.5 million.
The project has faced persistent regulatory and privacy concerns over its biometric identity verification model.
Authorities in Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines have investigated, restricted, suspended or penalized World’s biometric data collection practices. Regulators have raised concerns about privacy protections and whether users provide sufficient informed consent.
World says it continues to engage with regulators as it expands into new markets.
WLD currently trades at around $0.36, giving the token a market capitalization of approximately $1.31 billion. Its price has fallen about 2% over the past 24 hours.
