Sam Altman-backed Worldcoin launches mainnet blockchain
The digital identification effort backed by Sam Altman will be renamed World Network.
Beyond the renaming, the team launched the World Chain protocol on the mainnet. This project links World Chain, an Ethereum-secured Layer 2 blockchain network. Optimism, Alchemy, Uniswap, Safe, Dune, and Etherscan will help launch the blockchain.
“As the project grows and World ID’s proof of human protocol becomes more important, the name ‘Worldcoin’ no longer encapsulates the mission, to accelerate every human,” World told The Block in a press release. “With its three key pillars (World Chain, World ID and Worldcoin), World is truly a network of real, verified humans built to enable an optimistic future in which humans will continue to be at the center of AI progress.”
In July 2023, Worldcoin launched World ID, a digital ID solution. This system verifies users’ humanity and identification locally and on the blockchain. Those that supply biometric data, such as an iris scan via a metal orb, to prove their “personhood” get an online passport and WLD money. World Network boasts over 10 million users in 160 countries.
Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, co-founded Tools For Humanity, its main developer. As artificial intelligence chatbots and helpers become increasingly common online, the World Network initiative tries to help differentiate between humans and bots.
“World Chain is a humans-only community with more useful apps, savings on gas fees and eventually, the ability to share your voice in the direction of World Chain itself,” per the team’s pitch.
Blockchains are built using OP Stack. World Network says the OP Mainnet application is the most significant since it accounts for 44% of network traffic.
The Block’s price page shows WLD’s current value at $2.13, down 3.68% in 24 hours. WLD’s market valuation is $1.1 billion.
Do Kwon moved crypto from jail after police failed to collect keys
Do Kwon allegedly made many bitcoin payments from a Montenegro prison after authorities took his crypto wallet login info and electronics 72 days late.
Portal ETV said that the Terra founder was arrested on March 23, 2023, but the judge didn’t obtain his electronics until June.
Montenegro Special Police Department officers told Portal ETV that imprisoned detainees were searched and found laptops, mobile phones, crypto wallet login info, and “other codes for accessing the blockchain.”
Two sources said Do made three bitcoin transactions using his crypto wallet in custody. Their source was a Podgorica mobile phone account. Portal ETV did not verify these transactions.
Montenegro’s National Security Agency (ANB) said Do’s devices were removed after the Minister of Police and Police Directorate ordered “everything that should have been confiscated on the first day of arrest.”
After an international arrest warrant in September 2022, Do proceeded to Serbia before Montenegro. In late 2022 and early 2023, public outrage regarding Serbia harboring a crypto fraudster forced him flee, according to Portal ETV.
Serbia’s state security flew Do from Belgrade to Montenegro to a Middle Eastern country with lax extradition procedures. Sources say Montenegro’s border police knew about Do’s fake passports and prepared his arrest.
The article states that Do’s phone, which police grabbed upon his incarceration, turned on after a tunnel to the High Court evidence room was located. The coincidence or suspicious occurrence was not investigated by authorities.
Montenegro’s justice minister hasn’t approved Do’s extradition to South Korea or the US.
Trump’s new crypto attempt
Donald Trump’s $300 million crypto token sale company World Liberty Financial has been slammed by crypto experts.
Donald Trump’s $300 million crypto token sale company World Liberty Financial has been slammed by crypto experts.
According to its website, Trump, his three sons Donald Jr., Eric, and Barron want to “leverage the global reach and recognition of the Trump brand” to promote bitcoin adoption.
World Liberty Financial (WLF) opened its website on Tuesday, although it had technical troubles. The company’s website crashed soon after opening due to traffic.
Scroll founder and WLF adviser Sandy Peng told CoinDesk that 72 million unique visits in the first hour created difficulties.
Etherscan showed that just over 5,000 wallet addresses possessed the firm’s WLFI token by Tuesday afternoon.
Blockchain and decentralized finance (DeFi) experts have criticized the firm for potential conflicts of interest, unclear investment precautions, and brand damage to a tainted industry.
The crypto and DeFi business has so many drawbacks that Trump wouldn’t raise popularity or enthusiasm. Newsweek reported that crypto exchanges enabled drug trafficking, according to Dublin City University Business School finance professor Michael Dowling.
Rising cryptocurrencies may be hazardous, Dowling cautioned investors. The Trump ‘new tech’ corporate investments have proved costly. Three years later, $10,000 in Truth Social shares is worth less than $3,000.
It will hurt investors to remember that expenditure. Indeed, his investment record is bad. Dowling claimed he and crypto investors are libertarian.
In U.S. IT, JD Vance is known for libertarianism. Thus, bitcoin may induce greater enthusiasm than stocks. A presidential candidate possessing private money (even for DeFi transactions) is strange.”
Castle Island Ventures managing partner Nic Carter questioned the project’s intentions. “He praised crypto but wanted profit. The Financial Times stated that Carter claimed none of this liberalizes or democratizes finance.
Dowling said most crypto investors want profit. “So, while the moral view of Nic Carter might be a valid view, it’s unlikely to sway investors,” stated.
WLF engaged crypto experts to advise and lead. Peng and PixelPlex CEO Alex Dulub are two of eight industry consultants.
“At PixelPlex, we provided blockchain development and security expertise to World Liberty, advising on best practices and innovative solutions,” said Dulub.
Web3 Antivirus aggressively fights phishing for community safety. A fake WLFI website was registered at 11:02 a.m. today. Within an hour of an 11:17 a.m. tweet, the website was down “stated.
The Verge stated that 2% of the 20 billion WLFI tokens available for public sale were acquired in the first hours, raising $12 million. At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, 856 million tokens (4.32%) sold.
Dowling termed it “decent launch.” “Initial coin sales are usually small. The idea is to raise prices so most coins sell for more. He claimed selling many coins is terrible.
Trump tweeted, “Today’s the day! Live @WorldLibertyFi token sale. Get $WLFI tokens now.” The ‘token’ is not transferable and locked in the wallet, thus you cannot withdraw until this’scheme’ authorizes it, according to an X forum post. Attention to detail!”
The WLF token gives voting but not economic rights. Only U.S.-registered investors may access it.
As anticipated of a 78-year-old crypto novice, Dowling informed Newsweek that World Liberty resembled previous crypto.
Tokens give economic participation rights, but not uniformly. For ‘investors,’ token price gains outweigh economic rights. The currency appears more speculative than investment, he said.
WLF may reverse Republican presidential nominee status. “I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air,” Trump said on X in 2019.
“The US has one real currency, stronger and more stable than ever. This will always be the world’s most common currency. The US Dollar!” He said.
After a New York rally in September 2024, the former president said, “I just made [my] first transaction in Bitcoin.”
Each crypto enthusiast should vote. You cannot lose if you vote “Trump said.
During the annual Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, he compared the cryptocurrency sector to the steel business and claimed the U.S. could become “the crypto capital of the planet and bitcoin superpower of the world.”
Dowling warned rookie investors may be at risk. Given their demographics, Trump supporters joining the crypto rush may make them more susceptible to fraud. Complex markets with many alternatives expose customers to exploitation.”
References
https://protos.com/do-kwon-transferred-crypto-from-prison-after-police-failed-to-seize-keys-report
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trumps-crypto-venture-has-industry-execs-worried-1970594