Worldcoin Announces Upcoming Release Of Layer-2 Ethereum Blockchain

In a recent announcement, Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, revealed the upcoming launch of World Chain. The open-source Ethereum layer-2 blockchain will debut in mid-2024 and aims to transform human authentication through its integration with the Worldcoin protocol. 

Worldcoin Unveils World Chain

Worldcoin is a project aspiring to become the world’s largest identity and financial public network. By employing iris scanning technology via smartphones or specialized devices known as Orbs, Worldcoin transforms biometric images into encrypted numerical codes. 

Combined with algorithms, these codes verify the individual’s unique human identity. The World ID app is a digital passport that allows users to authenticate themselves across web, mobile, and decentralized applications.

Tools for Humanity considers the new upcoming blockchain necessary to transition from existing networks to a dedicated infrastructure. According to the protocol’s website, more than 5 million people from 160 countries have signed up, and the verified wallets have facilitated 49 million transactions. 

However, with the launch of World Chain, Worldcoin aims to increase scalability, provide a dedicated network for its user base, and attract more users and participants to the project’s ecosystem. 

The proliferation of automated transactions, estimated to account for 80% of all blockchain activity, poses challenges such as network congestion. World ID aims to address this, ensuring an inclusive and secure ecosystem. The announcement continues:

Our immediate goal is to increase the L2 block gas limit by a significant factor. As this comes with risks and cannot be done blindly, we are conducting it in a safe way, supported by researching the worst case performance scenarios. 

Convenient Token Usage And Fee Payments

While Worldcoin transactions currently run on the Optimism OP Mainnet, the integration with World Chain will reportedly allow for frictionless deployment across multiple blockchain networks. 

Additionally, World Chain will maintain Ethereum as its native token, ensuring compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem. However, Worldcoin token holders will be able to use their tokens to pay transaction fees. 

In tandem, Worldcoin grants, distributed biweekly to verified individuals, will be available for immediate use within applications on the chain.

Ultimately, as the launch approaches, industry observers eagerly await the impact and reception of this new Ethereum layer-2 solution. Despite Worldcoin’s vision, the market cap and token price have experienced fluctuations. 

As of the time of writing, the native token of the Worldcoin project, WLD, is currently trading at $4.86. This represents a significant price decline of over 45% in the past 30 days, with a further 25% drop occurring in the past seven days.

According to data from CoinGecko, WLD’s market capitalization has decreased from its peak of $1.4 billion on March 26 to its current value of $950 million. 

However, since the announcement, there has been a notable increase in trading volume, surging by 6.40%. Additionally, the token has experienced a slight uptick of 3% following the disclosure.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com