A company co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has raised $115 million for Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project that scans users' eyeballs to "create an individual's unique personality." Altman is the co-founder and president of Tools for Humanity, which developed technology for the Worldcoin project, as well as leading the manufacturer of ChatGPT and GPT-4. Tools for Humanity announced today that it has raised $115 million in Series C funding from Blockchain Capital, Andreessen Horowitz's crypto fund, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global. Blockchain Capital says Worldcoin's "World ID" system, which includes eyeball scanning, will make it easier for apps to distinguish between bots and humans. "Worldcoin strives to be the world's largest and most inclusive identity and financial network built around the World ID and the Worldcoin token - a public service that everyone will enjoy, regardless of background or economic status," the crypto firm's funding press release states. . Worldcoin offers a World app for iOS and Android that "allows a person to set up their Worldcoin account and access a digital wallet linked to Worldcoin, Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital and traditional currencies, including stablecoins". The eyeball scanning part comes into play for anyone who signs up for a World ID. This requires going to a physical location and using your eyes and a device called an "Orb" to verify that you are a real person. “Orb uses iris biometrics to create an individual's unique personality, then generates a digital Earth ID that can be pseudonymized in a wide variety of everyday applications without revealing the user's identity,” Worldcoin says. Orb availability is limited The company says the World app itself can be used without for a World ID. However, Worldcoin says that people who get a World ID will also get free Worldcoin tokens and some free bitcoin and ether currency. One project FAQ says that Worldcoin is still in beta and its tokens are "not intended for use by people in the United States or other restricted areas." A US resident can get a World ID, but the Earth app tells users that there are no Orbs in the United States yet. If you're in one of the unfortunate countries without the Orb, the app says, "We're working hard to bring the Orbs to every country in the world." Orb hardware will be showcased in several US cities in the coming months, although Worldcoin says its tokens are not intended to be made available to people in the US. The company has announced an Orb "round" from May to July in Berlin, Dubai, London, Mexico City, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seoul and Tokyo where "Worldcoin Orbs will be available for a limited time". . Investor Worldcoin is not a 'dystopian nightmare' Tools for Humanity said in a press release that the new funding will "accelerate TFH's continued R&D and growth, support the expansion of the Worldcoin project, and further develop the WorldApp, the first wallet of the Worldcoin ecosystem." Blockchain Capital General Partner Spencer Bogart defended Worldcoin against the privacy and security criticisms the iris scanning project has received. "I thought Worldcoin was a dystopian Orwellian nightmare, then our team invested hundreds of hours to evaluate what the contributors were actually building, and I completely changed my mind," wrote Bogart on Twitter. Bogart claimed that "Worldcoin is probably the single most misunderstood project in all cryptocurrencies," noting that "at first glance it appears to be a harmful combination of hardware, biometrics, crypto and artificial intelligence." But "in reality", according to Bogart, Worldcoin's World ID is "the most convincing solution we've seen" to a decades-old problem. “In short, Worldcoin has a unique opportunity to create and scale a new privacy-preserving primitive for the Internet that allows any application to easily distinguish between machines and humans.” Blockchain Capital website states, "World ID empowers individuals to verify their online humanity while maintaining anonymity through zero-knowledge evidence. Verification is as simple as clicking a button to sign a transaction." Gotopnews.com