Sam Altman’s World sells 239 million WLD through OTC deals with partial lockup

World Foundation, the non-profit entity behind the biometric identity verification protocol formerly known as Worldcoin, disclosed today that its subsidiary completed the sale of around $65 million in WLD tokens through a series of over-the-counter deals with four counterparties over the past week.

Based on the disclosed average price, World Assets, Ltd., the unit responsible for token issuance and distribution, sold approximately 239 million WLD tokens.

Of the $65 million raised, $25 million in tokens are locked up for six months to prevent immediate selling by buyers, as noted by the team.

The first settlement was completed on March 20, with the remaining transfers conducted from a designated World Assets multisig wallet. Funds are earmarked for core operations, R&D, manufacturing of the project’s iris-scanning Orb devices, and expansion of the ecosystem.

The disclosure comes after blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain reported last week that World offloaded 117 million WLD tokens valued at $39 million via OTC trades.

WLD traded at around $0.27 at press time, down 13.5% in the past week, CoinGecko data shows. The token once peaked at $11.7 in March 2024.

Tom Lee-backed Eightco Holdings is the largest publicly traded holder of WLD, controlling 277 million tokens as of March 20.

Founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern, Worldcoin combines biometric identity verification with crypto to pioneer a global proof-of-personhood system.

Its ecosystem features the Orb-based World ID, the WLD token, the World App wallet, and the World Chain layer 2 network.

World ID has verified nearly 18 million unique humans, with close to 39 million World App users. The network spans 160-plus countries, supported by 948 active Orbs, and continues to grow with over 60,000 new accounts and 16,000 verifications in the past week.