Crypto
Sam Altman closeup
Look deep into Sam Altman’s eyes (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Sam Altman wants to scan your eyeballs in exchange for crypto... and then make your dating life easier

Welcome to the future!

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

If you’re willing to have your eyeballs scanned, you will be handsomely (OK, maybe not that handsomely) rewarded with crypto, thanks to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. 

Starting this week, Altman’s blockchain project World, part of the Tools of Humanity startup, will enable Americans to have their eyes scanned using “signature NVIDIA-powered Orbs” in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco.

To date, more than 12 million people have an Orb-verified World ID, which the company says allows you to “anonymously and securely verify that you are a real and unique human (and not a bot) for easy online verification, such as signing into social apps and ensuring fair online activities like voting or buying concert tickets.”

Altman’s company also plans to deploy 7,500 Orbs nationwide within the next 12 to 24 months.

In addition, Americans will now have access to “the complete World App experience, and claim the Worldcoin (WLD) airdrop,” according to a press release.

Once your eyes are scanned, you will receive 16 WLD, while early adopters who downloaded the World app will receive a “Pioneer Grant” of 150 WLD. (But not if you’re a New York resident!) WLD was up 2% this morning, but has fallen a whopping 90% since its all-time-high on March 10, 2024.

World also announced a World Card, in partnership with Visa, which enables WLD to be used across 150 million merchants worldwide.

“Merchants can seamlessly receive fiat currency without needing to understand crypto, while individuals can gain flexibility in how to use their digital assets. There’s no need to convert or transfer rewards — the card is expected to make rewards spendable with a seamless crypto-to-fiat usability,” according to the company.

Last, but not least, World also announced a partnership with dating site Match which will “pilot using World ID as a simple and secure solution for age verification, beginning with Tinder users in Japan.”

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Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

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SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

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