Worldcoin updates: Community grants, World ID interest and new agreements with trading firms

It’s been a busy end to a landmark year for the Worldcoin project.

Amid the launch of the Worldcoin Foundation’s Community Grants Program and an increase in global interest in World ID, the project completed its transition to WLD rewards for Worldcoin Operators in eligible countries and is entering new agreements with five trading firms. A summary of recent milestones and information can be found below.

In early December, World Assets, Ltd., (Worldcoin) a wholly owned subsidiary of Worldcoin Foundation, announced the launch of the Worldcoin Community Grants Program that will be supported by the Worldcoin Foundation in accordance with its aims and objectives, in order to support, grow and encourage adoption of Worldcoin projects.

Beginning with the inaugural Wave0, the Community Grants Program is a commitment to focus on building resilient technology and more equitable systems by empowering a robust community of builders to advance the Worldcoin Tech Tree. 

Learn more about the Community Grants Program here.

World ID verifications jumped in 2023 from under a million in January to more than 2.5 million by the end of November. Countries like Argentina, a global leader for blockchain innovation and crypto adoption, now have more than 360K people with World IDs. In Iberia, that number has climbed to over half a million.

Find out more about global interest in World ID here.

In October, Worldcoin announced that Worldcoin Operator rewards would be transitioning, in countries where WLD is available, from USDC to WLD. Worldcoin Operators are independent ecosystem participants who operate Orbs, custom imaging devices developed for the Worldcoin project by Tools for Humanity (TFH). That transition is now complete, and all Operators in eligible countries are now receiving rewards in WLD.

When Worldcoin launched on July 24, 2023, World Assets Ltd. entered into loan agreements with five trading firms operating outside of the US. Collectively, the five entities received loans of 100M WLD.

On October 24, the initial loan agreements were extended until December 15, 2023, while reducing the total loan amount to 75M WLD. Between October 24-26, the five trading firms returned 25M WLD to World Assets Ltd. (see the circulating supply chart on Dune). On December 15, under the terms of the current loan agreements, the trading firms will be required to return 75M WLD or, alternatively, they may elect to purchase any amount of tokens up to the full loan amount from World Assets Ltd.

As a result, the circulating supply may decrease by up to 75M WLD on December 15, depending on how many tokens the trading firms elect not to purchase and instead simply return to World Assets Ltd. Additional specifics regarding the agreements that will end on December 15, 2023 are available in the Worldcoin protocol whitepaper here and in a related blog post here. 

World Assets Ltd. is finalizing new loan agreements with the same five trading firms that will start on December 16, 2023. 

Under these agreements, the five entities will receive much smaller loans than before, now totaling 10M WLD, for a time period of six months. The circulating supply will therefore increase by 10M WLD on December 16. After six months, each entity must return its loan in full—they will not have the option to purchase any WLD from World Asset Ltd. under these new agreements.

Overall, the net impact on the circulating supply of WLD of the two events (i.e., the previous agreements ending and new agreements starting) depends on how many tokens the trading firms elect to purchase on December 15.

Availability: Worldcoin (WLD) tokens are being distributed by a Worldcoin Foundation subsidiary, World Assets Ltd., and are not available to, or intended for, people or companies who are residents of, or are located, incorporated or have a registered agent in, the United States or certain other restricted territories. However, World ID and TFH’s World App remain available in the United States. For details, go to: www.worldcoin.org/tos. Crypto products can be highly risky. Important User Information can be found at www.worldcoin.org/risks.