World App Launches Account, Chat, and Authentication Features
US Dollar-Based Services Now Available in Korea
The "iris recognition" World App, spearheaded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is introducing new features such as account services, chat, and external authentication.
According to Yonhap News on December 12, Tools for Humanity (TFH), the operator of World App, announced at its "Unwrapped" event held at its San Francisco headquarters the previous day (local time) that these features would be added to World App.
Alex Blania, CEO of Tools for Humanity (THF, left), and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, are explaining the reason for creating World App at the "Unwrapped" event held on the 11th (local time) in San Francisco, USA. Photo by Yonhap News
World App is a project co-founded in 2019 by Altman and Alex Blania, CEO of TFH. The project is based on iris recognition. Through iris scanning, the system first distinguishes whether the user is human or artificial intelligence (AI). Once verified as human, it issues a World ID and grants the user a cryptocurrency called Worldcoin (WLD). TFH maintains security by deleting image data after recognizing the iris and face, generating and storing only a unique value for authentication purposes.
At the event, Altman said, "CEO Blania and I have long been interested in what human authentication in financial networks would mean in the era of AI. Although this was before the advent of ChatGPT, we both knew such a development was inevitable." He further explained, "It was clear there would be real value in the ability to distinguish between humans and AI," outlining the motivation behind creating World App.
Blania, CEO of TFH, stated, "From the beginning, we believed that artificial general intelligence (AGI) could become a reality," emphasizing, "Networks like World App will be crucial in ensuring that the benefits of technologies such as AGI are accessible to all humans." He revealed, "Currently, World App has 37 million users, of whom 17 million have completed iris verification." Over the past seven months, World App has grown by more than 40%, making it the world's number one wallet by monthly active users (MAU).
They announced that users will be able to create virtual accounts within World App based on US dollar-backed stablecoins (value-stable digital assets). Users who have verified their humanity through iris recognition can use these accounts to send and exchange money without fees. Korean users can also obtain these accounts, but the account currency is limited to US dollars.
They also plan to soon launch the "World Card" in collaboration with Visa. With the World Card, users will be able to make payments both online and offline. In Argentina, payments using QR codes will also be supported.
A chat feature has also been introduced. In World App, chat bubbles from users verified as human are displayed in blue, while those from unverified users appear in gray. Conversations are secured with end-to-end encryption (E2EE), and the chat window also enables functions such as sending money or gifts.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
