Worldcoin’s World IDs make their way to Solana

Today, enjoy the Lightspeed newsletter on Blockworks.co. Tomorrow, get the news delivered directly to your inbox. Subscribe to the Lightspeed newsletter. 

---

In a continuing trend of Ethereum-centric projects expanding into the Solana ecosystem, Worldcoin’s World IDs can now be authenticated on Solana. 

Well-funded interoperability protocol Wormhole is handling the deployment by bridging World ID’s state roots, or snapshots of details like account balances at a given point in time, from Ethereum to Solana. Early Solana-native projects to explore using World ID include DRiP, DSCVR and Flojo.

Worldcoin is an identity project developed by Tools for Humanity, a company that boasts OpenAI CEO Sam Altman as a co-founder. The initiative uses futuristic (or dystopian, depending on how you look at it) Orbs to scan individuals’ irises and establish their uniqueness. This data is used to verify World IDs, which the project touts as something like a “global digital passport for the age of AI.”

In April, Worldcoin announced that it was building an Ethereum L2, World Chain, as a blockchain built with Optimism’s OP Stack software set. At the time, Tools for Humanity said it expected to launch the chain over the summer, although that timeline appears to have been a bit optimistic. A TFH spokesperson did not return a request for comment on World Chain’s status.

For what it’s worth, Worldcoin has made parts of its technology open-source, and the project says that it highly values user privacy. Orb data is deleted by default unless users opt to save it, for instance. Still, for many crypto followers to date, World ID’s relevance has stemmed more from its legal woes than from its real-world uses. 

The project faces legal troubles spanning continents, with regulators in several nations voicing concerns over how World IDs are generated and stored, and what Tools for Humanity does with its data. 

That being said, you could argue that World ID is uniquely useful for Solana, given how low fees have made it a hotbed for bots, and spam has at times crowded out real users’ ability to use the blockchain. 

Vibhu Norby, whose DRiP platform is integrated with World ID, told me last week that the project has faced millions of sybil attacks — and that’s for a project that hasn’t promised a native token for active users. 

If token airdrops went to verified World ID holders, for instance, then community airdrops would actually reach their intended recipients rather than being soaked up by airdrop farmers posing as multiple people. 

Wormhole Foundation co-founder and CCO Robinson Burkey also pointed out that Solana could help World ID be applied to “micropayments” use cases including airdrops, social proof systems, pay-per-content and micro-transactions in video games.

Still, despite the flashy names involved, color me skeptical for the moment. There are roughly 6.6 million World IDs in existence, and that number’s growth is hindered by Worldcoin’s legality.

World IDs are only useful for something like airdrop verification if they’re widely held, and in many jurisdictions, Worldcoin can only move at the speed of regulators.

---

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

• Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
• Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
• Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
• 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
• Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
• The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
• Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.