World Foundation, the nonprofit entity responsible for the World protocol, announced the raising of US$ 52,5 million through a strategic sale of WLD tokens. All tokens traded in the operation are subject to a twelve-month lock-up period.
The first stage of the closing was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto, and Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq: ORBS), a WLD-linked treasury company. Other investors also joined the round.
There is no confirmation regarding new sale phases, and an organization spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. The foundation made a point of clarifying that the tokens sold "are intended for use within the World Network and do not represent equity ownership, rights to profits, or returns."
In practice, this means that buyers do not acquire an ownership stake in Tools for Humanity, the project's for-profit arm. The money will be directed toward expanding World ID among organizations, consumers, and artificial intelligence agents.
The announcement coincides with the network's three years of operation, a period in which the focus shifted from building the infrastructure to adopting digital identity. Verification happens only once, through the Orb device, generating an identifier stored on the user's own phone.
According to the foundation, the system uses advanced cryptography and anonymized multi-party computation, with open-source code, to preserve the privacy of those who register.
"The need for Proof of Humanity is becoming extremely clear with the acceleration of AI development, and we see this in the increase in corporate adoption," said Cosmo Jiang, managing partner at Pantera Capital, in a statement. "We are excited to continue supporting World's mission at this crucial moment in its growth."
The advance of autonomous agents has increased demand for tools capable of separating people from machines on the internet. Digital advertising, dating apps, voting systems, and video calls are among the sectors most exposed to synthetic identities and deepfakes.
World ID 4.0, aimed at corporate integrations, allows the creation of additional credentials with zero-knowledge proofs. Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel, and Tinder are already among the integrated platforms.
More than 39 million people have joined the network, with 18 million having completed Orb verification, totaling 475 million credentials issued.
Conceived by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania, the project has accumulated about US$ 492,5 million raised. The biometric model remains under review by regulators in Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.