Sam Altman’s World is adding chat and payment features

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Sam Altman’s World (formerly Worldcoin) is adding an important “Mini App” within its iOS and Android app called World Chat, which lets you “connect, chat, and send money” to people verified by the World Network. 

And yes, based on the screenshots, you can send cryptocurrencies like USDC directly within your chat.

World Chat is in beta for now, but there are already over 100 other so-called mini apps on World. That’s a lot — I don’t think you’d be able to use all of them regularly.

“World Chat will be integrated with other Mini Apps to help drive even more growth and engagement in the ecosystem,” Tools For Humanity Chief Product Officer Tiago Sada said. 

Tools For Humanity is the for-profit firm tied to World, but World also has the World Foundation (like most projects that launch a token).

Altman, who is also founder and CEO of OpenAI, has predicted that at some point, the internet as we know it will become overrun with bots — so much so that it’ll be hard to tell who is a real human.

Well, I think we all know that ship has already sailed. From bots on social media to AI agents that can get around CAPTCHAs, we’re already living in a very artificially intelligent world. 

Downloading the World app on your phone will show you where you can get your iris scanned to prove you’re human and use the platform, including the World Network. From there, you can access mini apps and use its crypto rails.

Worldcoin is the native token for the World Network, a blockchain dedicated to ID verification. You go to one of those weird eyeball-scanning orbs, and you can get some tokens to ultimately sell or use on that blockchain.

I absolutely think that World Chat adds more utility to the World app, but Apple Cash within iMessage already exists, and so does Venmo and PayPal. World Chat’s crypto payments feature looks a bit like Strike in its simplicity. The competition will be tough, and some anons may not be comfortable sharing their eyes with Mr. Altman.

That said, World could have more international appeal and accessibility. 

WhatsApp — the favorite chat app of my friends in Mexico and South Africa — doesn’t offer in-app payments. It’s hard for those based in the US to send small amounts of money globally, and crypto is an obvious solution. It’s also great that World Chat conversations are end-to-end encrypted, so at least you don’t have to compromise on privacy on that front.

In my view, Telegram is World’s biggest real competitor. Telegram has global reach and hundreds of millions of users, and you don’t need to verify your identity and can send and receive payments using bots and different APIs. 

But Telegram’s massive size can also be its downside, as its CEO and founder Pavel Durov has admitted himself. Telegram has faced criticism over the number of alleged criminals using the app. Cybercriminals are able to anonymously hawk malware, phishing kits, or scam users on Telegram, often without getting caught.

World offers a vetted, bespoke solution to combat bots and unknown individuals. If you’re not verified with a World ID, you can still use the chat mini app. But your messages and name will appear gray and without a unique gem, so verified users will know you haven’t proven your humanity just yet.

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