World Foundation, the organization behind Sam Altman‘s biometric identity project, has completed a $65 million over-the-counter sale of its WLD token. The foundation’s token issuance arm, World Assets, carried out the transaction with four counterparties over the course of a week, with the first tranche settling on March 20. The sale was announced in a post on X and priced at an average of approximately $0.27 per token, implying that around 239 million WLD tokens changed hands.
The foundation stated that proceeds from the sale will fund core operations, research and development, orb manufacturing, and ecosystem development. Of the total raised, $25 million worth of tokens are subject to a six-month lockup period, while the remaining tokens were immediately available for trading. The announcement briefly pushed WLD to an all-time low of around $0.24 before the token recovered to the $0.27 range.
At its current trading price of approximately $0.2725, WLD is down roughly 97% from its peak of near $11.82 reached in March 2024, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Additional supply pressure may be approaching, as a major community token unlock is scheduled for July 23. That unlock is expected to cover approximately 52.5% of the token’s 10 billion total supply, according to data from DefiLlama.
The latest sale also represents a significant discount compared to previous fundraising rounds. In May of last year, World raised $135 million at roughly $1.13 per token from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto. The sharp drop in token price between rounds reflects the broader challenges the project has faced since its 2023 launch.
World has encountered a growing number of regulatory obstacles across multiple countries. In October last year, authorities in Thailand raided an iris-scanning site linked to the project, with the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission and Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau alleging the service may have operated without the required license, resulting in arrests and an ongoing investigation. The incident added to a pattern of scrutiny the project has faced internationally.
Since launching, World has faced probes and regulatory pushback in several other jurisdictions, including Indonesia, Germany, Kenya, and Brazil. Concerns raised by regulators and authorities in these countries have ranged from licensing violations to questions about how the project handles sensitive biometric data collected during its iris-scanning process. The cumulative regulatory pressure continues to weigh on the project as it seeks to expand its global footprint.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
