The World Foundation has secured $52.5 million through a strategic WLD token sale to accelerate the expansion of its World ID “proof of human” network. The first close of the fundraising was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Nasdaq-listed Eightco Holdings, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto, and other investors. All WLD tokens sold are locked for 12 months and intended solely for use within the World Network ecosystem.
The fresh capital will go toward bringing World ID to enterprises, consumers, and AI agents, the Foundation said. The technology, which lets a person prove they are a unique human without revealing their identity via a one-time iris scan at an Orb device, has already been integrated with platforms including Zoom, Docusign, Okta, Vercel, and Tinder. The organization also announced the release of World ID 4.0, designed for enterprise-scale deployments and enabling developers to build custom identity credentials using zero-knowledge proofs.
World’s network has grown to more than 39 million users, with over 18 million verified through Orb scans and 475 million ID proofs processed. The raise comes alongside continued regulatory scrutiny in countries such as Hong Kong, Kenya, Brazil, Spain, and South Korea over biometric data handling, as well as renewed attention on token ownership concentration following Grayscale’s filing for a spot Worldcoin ETF. Earlier in May, the Foundation raised $135 million in a similar token sale led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto, bringing total WLD token sales to approximately $200 million. Combined with $240 million in venture equity funding for Tools for Humanity, the World ecosystem has raised roughly $492.5 million to date.
