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- Startup entrepreneur Sam Altman introduces a project that aims to distribute unique crypto to everyone on earth.
- The only catch is that People will be required to scan their eyeballs.
The 36-year-old former head of Y Combinator Sam Altman is making it possible for everyone on earth to own crypto. According to a report, he is seeking to improve the universal basic income through a project he and two others founded, Worldcoin. The idea was conceived in an interview with economist Tyler Cowen in 2019 when discussing the need for governments to redistribute money.
With an interest in the economic theory of Universal Basic Income, he identified crypto as the best vehicle to easily spread money across the world equitably.
This does not, however, come without a plan. With his partners, he decided to scan everybody’s eyeball to construct a unique personal identifier. This will be achieved using a device designed in an orb shape.
Alexander Blania, 27, the head of the project who co-founded the company with Altman and Max Novendstern, explained that the scanning device is the size of a basketball, making it easily portable.
Though Worldcoin is not ready for distribution, the orb is currently being tested on a small scale in various cities. Volunteers who have their eyes scanned and give feedbacks are given Bitcoin. The iris scan is very important as it prevents people from defrauding the system through multiple registrations. Each person is given a unique numerical code by the scanner, and the image is then deleted permanently.
Worldcoin to be headquartered in San Francisco
As it stands, there are less than 20 prototypes in circulation with each prototype costing $5,000 to make. However, the price may reduce once the company refines the process. According to Blania, the headquarters will be established in San Francisco. For now, employees are scattered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company is on the right track as $25 million has been raised from investors.
Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency co-founded by Sam Altman, launches with $25M from a16z and others and plans to develop an orb-shaped device to scan human eyeballs (Bloomberg)https://t.co/933Un953ZFhttps://t.co/Ts4ILHebQT
— Techmeme (@Techmeme) June 29, 2021
Apart from its interesting objective, it is backed by heavyweights including Andreessen Horowitz, the venture capital arm of Coinbase Global as well as Reid Hoffman, Linkedin founder, and Day One Ventures.
Blania explained that many people have been left out of the financial systems, a problem that can be solved with crypto. The distribution will further help economies transition to cryptocurrencies. This will be done through:
a novel approach: a dedicated hardware device ensuring both humanness and uniqueness of everybody signing up while maintaining their privacy and the overall transparency of a permissionless blockchain.
Another Worldcoin project listed by CoinMarketCap since 2013 was initially pointed out by the crypto community as Altman’s project. Blania has immediately clarified that their Worldcoin is not live yet, and the one on CMC is a completely different project.
