Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, is now close to getting another 100 million USD in funding for his Worldcoin project. The crypto project Worldcoin raised 100 million last year at a valuation of 3 billion from big-name investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and the venture capital arm of Coinbase.
Hudson Jameson, a former core developer of Ethereum, who now works with Polygon Labs, describes Worldcoin’s plans as “unrealistic and scary.”
The Worldcoin project uses a device called an orb, to determine whether it’s a human, by scanning the irises of individuals. Those participants who sign up by scanning their irises are rewarded with Worldcoin. This is done, in hopes of creating a global ID system that will provide access to the global currency - the Worldcoin.
Jameson is deeply concerned with the rollout of Worldcoin due to the project’s ambitious plans of onboarding tens of millions of users by 2025. Moreover, he questioned the transparency of the project, describing it in a Twitter thread:
“Last I checked, I’ve seen zero indications they have publicly accessible plans to deal with the huge socio-economic issues that are going to vary region to region. There also isn’t a working group where they are inviting experts on this. If there is, there is zero advertising of it.”
He then began to question the tokenomics of the project and regarded it as “suspicious.” According to Jameson, the Worldcoin supply will be divided 80%-20%, with the majority of it being meant for the public and the remaining 20% split between investors, and the team, with each getting 10% of the supply. He continued with criticizing its tokenomics by saying:
“How is that going to create a fair worldwide currency? Is there any analysis from them on preventing wealth gaps in certain areas?”
Moreover, Jameson expressed his concerns about the project's approach to tackling a global issue, highlighting a potential oversight in understanding the factors to solve it, besides achieving new technological advancements in the process. He ended on a somber note, saying that he doesn't think Worldcoin will succeed.
Meanwhile, a research engineer at Worldcoin said that the project’s approach to distribution is “pretty good” when compared to other popular tokens.
There are more people who question the project like Jameson, for example, another Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko. Tim Beiko had already expressed his doubts: “cheap + open access FaceID” could potentially make Worldcoin obsolete.
