First published 27 July 2023, the week the token launched. Expanded in October 2026 for the rename and for World Chain, which a lot of posts treat as if the coin had changed chains by itself. Worldcoin is a project co-founded by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. Tools for Humanity operates World App and the Orb, a device in a shop. The Worldcoin Foundation is the organisation that describes itself as the steward. Three products get collapsed into the ticker. World ID is a credential the project says proves a person is human and has not enrolled twice. WLD is the token. World App is a wallet the company ships. Scanning is not the same act as holding the token.
On 17 October 2024 the project renamed itself World, or World Network, and opened World Chain. The announcement listed World ID, the chain, and the token as three pillars. WLD did not become a new coin. A site that says the rename requires you to claim, migrate, or type a recovery phrase is not the rename.
What the token was at launch
WLD launched on 24 July 2023 as an ERC-20. The initial cap in the white paper is 10 billion. Governance can turn on inflation of up to 1.5 percent a year, and not before 15 years from launch. The default in that paper is zero. A cap that a later vote can lift is not a promise that the vote will never happen. It is also not a statement that inflation is already on.
The same paper said the launch float would be at most 143 million, and that 100 million of that was a loan to market makers rather than tokens already in users’ hands. Most of the 10 billion was allocated to be handed out over time, with a quarter reserved for early investors in Tools for Humanity and the team. A market-cap widget that multiplies today’s price by 10 billion is counting coins that were not the float. User grants at launch were paid on Optimism. Ethereum WLD and Optimism WLD are different entries. Bridging them is extra software, not a tunnel.
The terms at launch said WLD was not available to US persons. They also said World ID and the app could still be used in the United States. A restriction in a company’s terms is not a rule Ethereum enforces, and it is not an invitation to route around the terms. Nothing on this page is an offer of the token.
The Orb is a device. The claim is the app
The project says the Orb checks that a person is alive and unique, and that the image is deleted on the device unless you agree to keep it. You are trusting that sentence, and you are trusting the operator of the shop. This page will not describe the sensor. World ID is the credential that comes out of a verification the project accepts. It is not WLD. WLD is not a passport.
Where the project offers tokens, it says the claim is inside World App, not on a website that appeared this week. There is no separate airdrop. A page that asks you to connect a wallet and sign to “claim WLD” is the thing the white paper told people to refuse. A wallet signature is not a handshake. World Chain, live the day of the rename, is a further network. The project says verified people get priority block space there. Priority is a policy of that chain. An address that starts with 0x on Ethereum, on Optimism, or on World Chain is three notebooks. The wrong network is still the wrong city. Nothing here is an instruction to verify, claim, or buy WLD.
