The World Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the World protocol, said it has completed a $52.5 million strategic sale of WLD tokens, with Pantera Capital leading the round. Bain Capital Crypto, WLD treasury company Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital and Susquehanna Crypto also took part, and all tokens sold carry a one-year lock-up.
According to on-chain analyst EmberCN, the foundation sold about 217.4 million WLD to those institutions roughly eight hours before the announcement. Based on the disclosed financing amount, the implied sale price was around $0.24 per token, about 26% below WLD's current price. The tokens were then distributed from a team wallet to multiple addresses.
CoinMarketCap data cited in the report showed WLD trading at about $0.326, with a circulating market capitalization of roughly $1.22 billion, a fully diluted valuation of about $3.24 billion, and a market cap ranking of No. 47. The token previously reached a high of $11 in March 2024. At the current price, it is down about 97% from that level.
Second large token sale in recent months
This is the second sizable token sale disclosed by the World Foundation in recent months. On March 28, the foundation said its subsidiary World Assets, Ltd. completed $65 million in over-the-counter sales with four counterparties over the course of one week, at an average price of about $0.2719 per token. Of that total, $25 million worth of tokens came with a six-month lock-up.
After the two sales, cumulative fundraising tied to the World project has reached about $492.5 million.
Funds earmarked for World ID expansion
The World Foundation said the WLD sold in the latest transaction is for use only within the World Network ecosystem and does not represent any equity interest in Tools for Humanity, the for-profit company behind the project. It said the proceeds will be used to promote World ID technology to businesses, individual users and AI agents.
World ID is the project's core product. It uses a one-time Orb biometric verification process to let a person prove they are human without disclosing their identity.
Three-year milestone and a new roadmap phase
On July 25, the project marked its third anniversary and said it had entered the third phase of its base roadmap, known as the "Simple Plan." The stated goal is to bring proof-of-human technology into a broader set of use cases across consumer platforms, enterprise clients and AI agents.
The team said that could include Zoom meetings where all participants can verify they are real people, Tinder matches confirmed as human-to-human, and concert tickets reaching fans instead of bot-driven scalping programs.
Official figures show the World network now reaches more than 39 million users globally, with over 18 million people having completed Orb verification. The project also said it has integrated with Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel and Tinder.
From Worldcoin to World Network
The project was originally launched as Worldcoin and was co-founded in 2019 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Alex Blania and Max Novendstern. In October 2024, it formally changed its name to World Network and launched the World Chain mainnet. Under the new brand, the ecosystem is built around three core pillars: World Chain, World ID and Worldcoin.
DefiLlama data cited in the report showed World Chain with roughly $317 million in total value locked.
Fresh moves in public markets
World has also been active on the capital markets front. On July 21, Grayscale filed a registration statement for a Worldcoin ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund would hold WLD as a passive investment vehicle and, if approved, would list on Nasdaq. Bank of New York Mellon would serve as transfer agent, while BitGo Bank & Trust would act as custodian.
Robinhood listed WLD on June 23.
Separately, WLD treasury company Eightco Holdings changed its Nasdaq ticker to "ORBS" in September 2025. Before that, the company said it had completed a $250 million private placement to launch its WLD treasury strategy.
Protocol-level fees arrive with World ID 4.0
On the product side, World ID 4.0 introduced a fee system on April 17. Credential issuers and the protocol layer can charge applications for using Proof of Human credentials, while end users continue to use the system for free.
World said the mechanism is designed to create sustainable revenue for the protocol and support a positive growth loop.
Compliance questions remain
The project is still dealing with regulatory and compliance pressure. On June 25, Business Insider, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Tools for Humanity launched two investigations last year led by external law firms. One focused on alleged misuse of company funds by executives, and the other on possible violations tied to its Thailand business.
According to that report, certain executives were accused of approving payments totaling millions of dollars to a foreign company for purposes other than normal business procurement, with the aim of artificially lifting the market price of WLD. The report also said the company's partner in Thailand had been accused of being an internationally wanted fraud suspect.
Regulators in multiple countries have also raised serious concerns over Tools for Humanity's iris-scanning practices and its collection of user data.
Why OpenAI comparisons keep resurfacing
Within the crypto market, some investors treat WLD as a speculative stand-in ahead of any future OpenAI listing, arguing that holding the token is a way to indirectly bet on Sam Altman's broader ambitions. That sentiment has shown up repeatedly in secondary-market trading, where major OpenAI developments have at times moved WLD in the short term.
Still, the report notes that while World is often tied to OpenAI because of Altman's involvement, the two are completely separate in legal, financial and operational terms, with no cross-shareholding and no parent-subsidiary relationship.