World, the iris-scanning identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, said on July 24 that it has entered Phase 3 of its five-stage roadmap, moving the network away from using WLD rewards to bootstrap signups and toward selling proof-of-human verification. That offering now extends to AI agents acting on behalf of users.
In a post on X, the project said, “Three years after launch, World enters Phase 3 of its roadmap, expanding privacy-preserving proof of human to consumer apps, enterprises, and AI agents.” The announcement came three years after Worldcoin’s July 2023 debut.
Phase 3 follows World ID 4.0
In a blog post explaining the transition, World said it has issued more than 18 million human credentials and enabled more than 450 million uses of World ID. Under the project’s founding framework, Phase 3 is the stage at which the network reaches “critical scale and initial utility.”
World said the move follows the release of World ID 4.0, which it described as enterprise-ready infrastructure. The system allows developers to issue additional credentials using zero-knowledge proofs.
AI agents are at the center of the expansion
The biggest extension in this phase targets AI agents. World said traffic from agents and agentic browsers rose 7,851% year over year in 2025, and that agents now browse, run workflows, and complete purchases through the same interfaces used by humans.
Its response is AgentKit, a toolkit introduced earlier this year. World said the product extends World ID into agentic workflows through three primitives: agent delegation, human-in-the-loop verification, and agentic commerce.
According to the project, developers can build systems in which agents act on behalf of verified humans and request verifiable human approval for sensitive actions. World also said it is working with Okta, Vercel, Shopify, Coinbase, Exa, and Browserbase on integrations aimed at agents, and noted that it published separate announcements with Okta and Vercel in the days before the Phase 3 post.
Consumer and enterprise rollout
On the consumer side, World’s verification is now live on Tinder. Reddit has also signaled interest in privacy-first proof-of-human checks for accounts flagged as automated.
For enterprises, World said Zoom is expected to let companies use World’s Deep Face verification through its ISV platform within six months. The project described that as its most immediate revenue opportunity.
From token incentives to fee-based revenue
Phase 3 also changes the business model. Since launch, roughly 16 million verified users have claimed more than 900 million WLD in grants and referral rewards, according to World.
Going forward, the project said growth will depend on utility rather than token incentives. Applications will pay World ID fees, while protocol usage will remain free for end users. Verified users may receive perks such as Tinder Boosts instead of tokens.
Operations will narrow geographically
The shift also comes with a smaller physical footprint. World said it will focus operations on San Francisco and New York in the United States, along with the U.K., Germany, Japan, and South Korea. It also said it will reduce its operational workforce outside those focus countries.
The project aims to have 95% of its Orbs running under a self-serve model by the end of 2026.
WLD is down over the week
The market has not treated the milestone as a catalyst. According to CoinGecko, WLD trades at $0.34, down 0.9% over the past 24 hours and 8% over the past week.
The token’s market capitalization stands at $1.28 billion, which the report said is 97% below its March 2024 all-time high of $11.74, even as the network’s verification numbers keep rising. In that context, Phase 3’s fee model is effectively designed to close the gap.