The cryptocurreny project Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, has recently announced a significant change in their reward system. Instead of receiving rewards in USD Coin (USDC) stablecoins, Worldcoin operators, who operate the biometric imaging device – Orb – developed by Tools for Humanity, will now be rewarded with the project’s native coin WLD.
This transition from USDC to WLD rewards will be completed by next month. However, it is important to note that the use of WLD is currently not available to users in the United States.
Increasing Native Token Supply
In a company update, Worldcoin revealed that their native token supply has been steadily growing. From approximately 100 million tokens, the circulating supply has now surpassed 130 million, which accounts for 1.34% of the total 10 billion supply of WLD.
The primary goal of Worldcoin is to create a network of individuals who can verify their humanness. To encourage participation, the majority of the WLD token supply will be distributed to both new and existing users in the form of user grants over the years to come.
Since the launch of the native token in July, Worldcoin attributes the increase in token supply to Orb-verified users who have claimed around 34 million WLD in free user grants.
Components of Circulating Supply
The circulating supply of WLD tokens consists of various components. Currently, it includes 100 million tokens in loans that have been extended to market makers. Additionally, 34.3 million tokens have been allocated for user grants, while the operators receive tokens as rewards.
The loans are set to expire on Tuesday, October 24. However, Worldcoin plans to renew the agreements until December 15 with a reduced loan amount of 75 million WLD in total.
Operational Challenges and Biometrics Resistance
During a panel discussion at Token 2049 in Singapore, Sam Altman, the co-founder of Worldcoin and CEO of ChatGPT creator OpenAI, highlighted the significant operational challenges faced by Worldcoin.
“The operational challenges are obviously huge [when] you think about what it takes to get these orbs manufactured,” Altman said.
Furthermore, Altman emphasized the ongoing challenge of overcoming “biometrics resistance.” This refers to the resistance or difficulty encountered when attempting to collect accurate biometric data.