3. Worldcoin

The Worldcoin project was initiated by a company called Tools for Humanity (TFH), founded by Sam Altman, Max Novendstern, and Alex Blania in 2019.

The mission behind Worldcoin's establishment is to create a globally inclusive identity and financial network owned by the majority of humanity. If successful, Worldcoin will significantly increase economic opportunities, provide a reliable online method to distinguish humans from AI, while protecting privacy, promoting global democracy, and showcasing a potential pathway for AI-funded Universal Basic Income (UBI) – as outlined in the Worldcoin white paper.

Readers paying attention might have their first question: Why can this globally inclusive identity and financial network only be owned by the majority and not all of humanity? A likely reason is that the project assumes it cannot reach people living in remote areas.

The second question is: If AI funds the basic income for the majority, won’t the few people in remote areas be even worse off?

Of course, judging by recent articles written by third parties on Worldcoin, people are probably more concerned about another issue: To receive basic income, does the majority of people on Earth have to provide their privacy data to a centralized company through Worldcoin's iris biometric device, Orb? Is this protecting privacy or creating privacy risks?

In my view, "AI-funded basic income" is a welfare system under the gaze of capitalists, and if it prevails, the ultimate result will be the most terrifying kind of privacy risk: a digital prison.

Most Chinese people should remember that the communism envisioned by Musk doesn’t require a basic income because it distributes according to need!

Amid people’s doubts, Worldcoin began issuing its token WLD on July 24, 2023. Of the total distribution, 75% was allocated to the community, 9.8% to the team, 13.5% to TFH investors, and 1.7% to TFH reserves. The circulating supply is 143 million, with 100 million loaned to market makers. Over 43 million WLD tokens were allocated before the launch, with regional distribution as follows: 32.1% to Asia, 31.6% to Africa, 18.8% to Latin America, 17.1% to Europe, and 0.1% to other regions. The total issuance of WLD is 10 billion, with inflation capped at 1.5% per year, determined by protocol governance, expected to start no earlier than 15 years from now.

Anyone who's been involved in the blockchain industry for over a year knows this is a classic case of capitalists trying to fleece investors in an ICO!

On October 21, 2021, in its "Launch Working Principles," the Worldcoin capitalists sadly remarked that “... cryptocurrency technology has so far only reached about 3% of the global population. Although there have been amazing technological breakthroughs, widespread global adoption has yet to be achieved through collective efforts.” Yes, since the emergence of the first competitive coin called IXCoin in August 2011, capitalists have, through extreme measures including ICOs and airdrops, frantically tried to reach a broader audience, and up to now, they have only managed to engage about 3% of the global population—how fortunate!