OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has pocketed nearly $100 million – including from indicted FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and Jeffrey Epstein’s former associate Reid Hoffman – for his latest cryptocurrency project, which relies on the terrifying “Orb” eye scan to user verification
The funds will likely be used to develop Worldcoin, Altman’s plan for a secure, global cryptocurrency that provides free cryptocurrencies in exchange for scanning users’ eyeballs.
Nevertheless, the Worldcoin identity verification technology continues to be in beta and is scheduled to be launched in the subsequent few weeks.
Since founding in 2019, OpenAI co-founder and head Altman has been busy finalizing a cope with Microsoft that saw the tech giant invest $10 billion in ChatGPT OpenAI.
Worldcoin’s beta technology is known as The Orb, which captures a user’s iris image to record them, regardless of who they’re or where they’re.
The image is then converted to an alphanumeric hash code – a process that can not be reversed, TechCrunch reported.
![OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is raising $100 million to fund Worldcoin, a secure, global cryptocurrency that offers free cryptocurrencies in exchange for scanning users' eyeballs.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000009168857.jpg?w=1024)
If the code has never been submitted before, it’s then stored within the Worldcoin database and generates a crypto wallet with a singular QR code.
In keeping with the corporate’s website, it’s “the primary token that has been given out worldwide and for free to people simply because they’re a special person.”
Worldcoin’s angel investors include Bankman-Fried, who’s awaiting trial on 13 criminal charges related to the theft of clients from his bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who – in keeping with a latest report – visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island .
It is just not clear how much of the $100 million got here from Bankman-Fried or Hoffman.
The fundraising was led by enterprise capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, with contributions from Khosla Ventures, Coinbase, Day One Ventures and Jesse Walden of Variant Fund, in keeping with TechCrunch.
The investment was valued at USD 1 billion.
![Sam Bankman-Fried is one of the investors of Worldcoin. He is an alleged scammer who has been accused of defrauding investors of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange. The long-running program ended when FTX filed for bankruptcy in November.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000005266776.jpg?w=1024)
The system was created with privacy protection in mind.
As such, the database is stuffed with hash codes quite than eyeball photos, and users are identified via QR wallet codes quite than their real names, in keeping with TechCrunch.
After generating a singular wallet, users will receive free money – Worldcoin tokens.
From Monday, $1 is comparable to 21.97 Worldcoins (WDC), in keeping with crypto.com.
![Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has also invested in Worldcoin. A new report obtained by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month revealed that Hoffman had paid a visit to Epstein Island and had other plans to meet a convicted sex offender.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000010510179.jpg?w=1024)
Users entered within the Worldcoin database will receive 80% of the cryptocurrency’s resources, while 10% will likely be reserved for the corporate and 10% will go to investors.
Amongst those investors is 31-year-old former billionaire Bankman-Fried, who amassed an estimated net price of $26 billion through the Bitcoin boom and have become the crypto poster child type when he founded the high-profile cryptocurrency exchange FTX in 2019.
He’s now an alleged fraudster, accused by the US Department of Justice of defrauding FTX investors under a scheme that ended when the crypto firm filed for bankruptcy in November.
While it’s unclear how much money Bankman-Fried contributed to Worldcoin’s $100 million fund, he was known to be very generous in his philanthropy, donating $5.2 million to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, making him considered one of the biggest donors for the Democratic Party candidate.
Alongside Bankman-Fried, 55-year-old Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman is considered one of Worldcoin’s investors.
![Worldcoin was co-founded by Altman and Alex Blania (pictured).](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011128969.jpg?w=1024)
![Worldcoin introduces users with The Orb, a camera that takes pictures of people's irises and then converts the image into a hash code.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/05/NYPICHPDPICT000011128970.jpg?w=1024)
Earlier this month, a latest report obtained by The Wall Street Journal revealed that Hoffman paid a visit to Epstein’s Caribbean mansion – also often known as “pedophile island” – in 2014.
The report revealed plans to go to the island again later that yr, in addition to spending the night at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan to attend a “breakfast party” with a convicted sex offender the subsequent morning.
The Worldcoin currency will operate as a Layer 2 cryptocurrency based on Ethereum, which implies it takes advantage of the speed and reduced transaction costs of the Ethereum blockchain while having its own economy.
Co-founders Altman and Alex Blania use Layer 2 cryptography in an effort to make the worldwide economy helpful to “all and sundry on the planet, no matter country of origin,” in keeping with the Worldcoin website.
Blania told TechCrunch that other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have yet to accomplish that.
“Bitcoin is just not scalable for billions of individuals,” Blania told TechCrunch. “As we see today, it is rather expensive because transactions are slow.”
Nevertheless, the goal of getting all and sundry on the planet into the Worldcoin system may be very demanding considering The Orb technology is obligatory, but there are only 30 Orb prototypes in existence.
Nevertheless, greater than 700 users might be turned on with one bullet per week, as seen in early tests in South America, Asia, Africa and Europe, Blania told TechCrunch.
And each unique user registered by The Orb will receive a share of cryptocurrencies.