Inclusion is the Holy Grail
The launch of Bitcoin in 2009 was inclusive in theory but not in practice. Anyone in the world could run software on their computer and mine BTC but few did — you needed a computer, an internet connection and prior knowledge of cryptography. Ethereum came along in 2015 and was similarly inclusive in theory but not in practice. Anyone could participate in the crowdsale but few did — you needed capital and prior knowledge of Bitcoin which was still quite niche at the time. A holy grail in our space has long been to create a cryptocurrency that is inclusive in theory *and* in practice and that is exactly what Worldcoin, which came out of stealth today, is attempting to do.
The Worldcoin team is not launching a new blockchain to create a coin that captures lots of value but offers nothing new and interesting to the world like so many VC backed projects have done. Instead Worldcoin will live as an optimistic rollup on Ethereum. The team is seeking to achieve one specific goal with the creation of Worldcoin: create a cryptocurrency that lives on top of Ethereum that the whole world can easily claim as their own.
What would an airdrop that all people can easily take part in without prior ownership or knowledge of cryptocurrency look like?
Worldcoin will offer an airdrop to anyone on the planet, no prior ownership of coins, capital or knowledge of cryptocurrency needed. The team created a physical orb (see below) which any human can scan their eyes with to claim their coins. Distributing coins in a way that can’t be easily gamed but can be easily claimed by every human is a really hard problem to solve, and Worldcoin is attempting it with iris (the colored part of the eye that controls the amount of light that enters into the eye) recognition tech within a beautiful looking hardware device, zero-knowledge proofs to preserve individual privacy and a thoughtful rollout plan for Orbs to make sure that they are operated in places that don’t presently have significant cryptocurrency adoption.
We invested earlier this year and are happy to be a small part of the ambitious project. The team, led by founders Alex Blania and Sam Altman, is still early in their journey to deliver on the grand vision. You can read more about the project from Alex and on the Worldcoin blog.
And if you’re interested in exploring the holy grail of inclusion in cryptocurrency further I’d encourage you to also check out other great projects attempting this like Proof of Humanity, BrightID and Idena!
About 1confirmation: High conviction investors in authentic projects like Coinbase, OpenSea, SuperRare, dYdX, Nexus Mutual and more. Started in 2017 with $5M, now $1B+ in AUM.
