Two venture capital funds directly purchased WLD tokens without any discount.
Written by: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
On May 21, 2025, World Foundation announced that its subsidiary World Assets Ltd. sold WLD tokens worth $135 million to early supporters Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Crypto at market price. Upon this news, the WLD price briefly rose over 13%, reaching a high of $1.29, with trading volume surging 70%.
Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougam tweeted, expressing his surprise: "a16z and Bain are spending big on WLD, a token that has dropped 90% in the past 14 months. I've never seen anything like this. Honestly, it's quite interesting."
Two Venture Capital Funds Purchase Tokens Without Discount
According to Worldcoin's official announcement, this was not a new round of venture capital investment, but rather two venture capital funds directly purchasing WLD tokens without discount, including renowned venture capital firms a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. These funds will primarily be used to accelerate the expansion of the World network, especially supporting its layout in the US market, including building an Orb manufacturing factory in Richardson, Texas, to mass-produce identity verification devices for iris scanning. According to the official blog, as of April 28, 2025, the WLD circulation was 1.3 billion, accounting for 13% of the total supply.
It's worth mentioning that this is another significant token purchase by a16z this year. The previous instance was in April, when a16z spent $55 million to purchase LayerZero's ZRO tokens, with a lock-up period of 3 years.
Worldcoin was co-founded in 2019 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others, aiming to build a global identity verification system "World ID" through iris scanning technology, to distinguish humans from AI and address the growing digital identity needs. In May 2023, Worldcoin's development company Tools for Humanity completed a $115 million Series C funding round, led by Blockchain Capital, with participation from a16z, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global.
As of May 2025, the Worldcoin network has attracted over 26 million users, with 12.5 million having Orb-verified World IDs. Worldcoin has established a certain user base globally, showing particular attractiveness in emerging markets.
This token sale comes at a time of overall recovery in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin recently hit a new all-time high, driving up the prices of multiple tokens including WLD. Worldcoin's choice to conduct a large-scale token sale at this time captures the market momentum and provides funding guarantees for its US market expansion.
So why did these two venture capital firms choose to purchase WLD tokens at this time?
a16z and Bain are typical long-term investors whose goals are usually to capture platform-level opportunities rather than short-term speculation. Although WLD is currently at a low point, from a technological, team, and macro perspective, this might be a "undervalued" moment. Market panic and valuation mismatches are opportunities. The 90% drop has caused many investors to panic and exit, but for seasoned institutions, this could be a sign of "price significantly below intrinsic value". They may believe the market has overreacted and this is an ideal time for bottom-fishing.
Additionally, Worldcoin's strong defense of privacy controversies at the Consensus 2025 conference further boosted investor confidence. The team emphasized that iris scanning data is stored locally, meeting privacy protection requirements, which to some extent alleviated market concerns about data security.
US Market Expansion and Technological Innovation
One of the core objectives of this venture capital token purchase is to support Worldcoin's expansion in the US market. Worldcoin launched its identity verification system "World ID" in the US on May 1st and has opened iris scanning service points in six cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.
Moreover, the World App debit card project in collaboration with Visa and the age verification pilot on Tinder with Match Group show Worldcoin's continuous moves in financial and social domains, not only enhancing Worldcoin's brand influence but also providing support for actual use cases of its WLD token.
On the technical front, the launch of Worldcoin's Orb Mini device and World ID version 3.0 marks its continued innovation in blockchain and biometric technologies. The Orb device, powered by NVIDIA technology, can efficiently complete iris scanning and generate privacy-protected digital identities, which is significant in the context of combating AI-generated content. Worldcoin has also launched World Chain blockchain, prioritizing transactions verified by humans, further strengthening the completeness of its technological ecosystem.
Summary
Despite promising prospects, Worldcoin still faces significant challenges. First is the privacy issue. Although the team repeatedly emphasizes its data protection measures, iris scanning technology has sparked controversy in multiple regions globally. In early May 2025, Indonesia suspended Worldcoin's operations due to privacy concerns, and Spain and Portugal have previously investigated its data collection methods. These regulatory pressures might limit Worldcoin's expansion speed in certain markets. Lastly, Worldcoin's business model is not yet fully mature. While its user base is growing rapidly, how to convert iris scanning technology and WLD tokens into sustainable business value remains to be verified over time.
However, Jake Brukhman, co-founder of CoinFund and one of Worldcoin's earliest investors, remains very optimistic. In a repost of a bullish WLD article, he stated, "The first time I bought Bitcoin, its fully diluted valuation (FDV) was around $10 billion. That was 12 years ago, and almost every existing power - from news media to financial institutions to governments - was trying to stifle it, until recently. WLD will become a more widely distributed currency and will move forward in an era with various tailwinds: including a positive regulatory environment, iOS support for crypto, and blockchain innovations from the past 12 years about to enter practical application."
