Venture capital firm Multicoin Capital has executed a major over-the-counter (OTC) purchase of 60 million Worldcoin (WLD) tokens, valued at approximately $30 million, directly from the project's treasury. The transaction, identified by blockchain analytics firms Lookonchain and AmberCN, involved a wallet linked to Multicoin sending 30 million USDC to a known Worldcoin team address, with 60 million WLD tokens received seven hours later.
The acquisition comes during a period of declining retail engagement for Worldcoin. On-chain data from Dune Analytics shows a sharp drop in new active wallet addresses since September, while Google Trends data indicates search interest for "Worldcoin" has plummeted from a peak score of 100 to just 6. Concurrently, WLD's price has fallen more than 21% over the past month, though it saw a slight 2.57% rebound to $0.49614 at the time of reporting amid a broader market recovery.
Multicoin Capital's move is seen as a significant vote of confidence in the controversial biometric identity project, betting on its long-term vision for a global digital identity standard (World ID) despite mounting regulatory challenges. In late November, Thai authorities ordered Worldcoin to suspend its iris-scanning enrollment activities and erase biometric data collected from over 1 million individuals, following an enforcement raid in October. This adds to earlier regulatory setbacks the project faced in Indonesia and Kenya in May.
OTC deals of this scale allow institutional investors to acquire large positions without causing immediate price slippage on public exchanges. Analysts note that while the trade signals strong institutional conviction, the tokens may be subject to a vesting schedule, and regulatory pressures remain a significant overhang for the project's adoption and price trajectory.
