OpenAI’s Sam Altman Raises $115M For Crypto Project Worldcoin

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has raised $115 million in a Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital for a cryptocurrency project he co-founded.

The project, Worldcoin, aims to distribute a crypto token to people “just for being a unique individual”. The project uses a device to scan irises to confirm their identity, after which they receive the tokens for free.

Worldcoin has been criticized for perceived privacy risks. In response to Altman’s tweet introducing the project in 2021, former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden tweeted, “Don’t catalog eyeballs.”

The token will not be available to people in the United States and certain other countries, according to the Worldcoin website.

The digital asset space is looking to regain popularity after a bruising 2022 that saw several crypto companies collapse, including the spectacular implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX.

Investors including a16z crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global also participated in Worldcoin’s latest fundraising round.

Altman and OpenAI, the startup behind ChatGPT, have been in the spotlight since late last year as interest in artificial intelligence grew by leaps and bounds. He testified before a US Senate panel last week and called for regulation of the technology.