Worldcoin, a digital identity project, has announced plans to increase the supply of its native token, WLD, by up to 19% over the next six months. This increase will be facilitated through a series of private sales to non-U.S. institutions. In an April 23 blog post, Worldcoin revealed that its subsidiary, World Assets, will conduct these private placements, selling up to 150 tokens per week to selected institutions outside the United States, totaling 10,000 WLDs valued at approximately US$8.2 million.
World Assets anticipates selling an average of 500,000 to 1.5 million WLD per week, resulting in an increase in the circulation of WLD tokens accordingly. CoinGecko estimates that the addition of 1.5 million WLD tokens per week over six months would translate to a supply increase of 36 million new tokens, currently valued at around $197 million. This private sale represents an 18.6% increase in the total available supply of WLD tokens over the same period, considering the current circulating supply of 193 million WLD tokens.
To minimize potential price impact on the tokens, Worldcoin plans to negotiate with individual trading firms, particularly those in competition with each other, to execute the private placement as close as possible to prevailing market prices for WLD. Despite having a market capitalization of $1 billion at current prices, Worldcoin's fully diluted value (FDV) stands at $54.5 billion – reflecting the total value it would be worth if all tokens were in circulation.
Launched in beta in July 2023, Worldcoin was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, current Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern, CEO of biometric research company Mana. The project aims to address identity challenges arising from artificial intelligence advancements and introduce a unique universal basic income model through its WLD token. Users register their identities on the World App by scanning their retinas at "Orbs" machines, receiving approximately 25 Worldcoins in exchange for their biometric data.
Worldcoin experienced a significant surge in price following its launch, climbing 435% from its initial price of $2.17 on July 24 to a peak of $11.74 on March 10. However, its price has since declined by over 53% from its all-time high, currently trading at $5.49.
