Ex-Ethereum developer calls Open AI founder’s Worldcoin project ‘unrealistic and scary’

Piggybacking off the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, its founder Sam Altman is reportedly close to snagging $100 million in funding for his crypto project Worldcoin. The project had already raised $100 million at a valuation of $3 billion last year from marquee investors including Andreessen Horowitz and the venture capital arm of Coinbase.

But former Ethereum core developer Hudson Jameson — who currently works with Polygon Labs — thinks that Worldcoin’s plans are “unrealistic and scary.”

The crypto project uses a device called an orb that scans the irises of individuals to determine if they are human. People who participate and sign up by scanning their irises are rewarded with Worldcoin. The idea is to use iris-scanning technology to create a global ID system that will provide access to its global currency, Worldcoin.

Jameson said he is uncertain about the rollout of Worldcoin since the project ambitiously plans to onboard tens of millions of users by 2025. Jameson also raised concerns about the transparency of the project.

In a Twitter thread, he noted:

“Last I checked, I’ve seen 0 indications they have publicly accessible plans to deal with the huge socio-economic issues that are going to vary region to region. There also isn’t a working group where they are inviting experts on this. If there is, there is 0 advertising of it.”

Jameson went on to question the tokenomics of the project, calling it “suspicious.” As per Jameson, 80% of the Worldcoin supply is meant for the public while the investors and the team will each own 10% of the supply.  He added:

“How is that going to create a fair worldwide currency? Is there any analysis from them on preventing wealth gaps in certain areas?”

Additionally, Jameson said that the project is trying to solve a global problem “while being ignorant of the factors to solving that problem besides building cool tech.” On a grim note, he concluded that he does not foresee success for Worldcoin.

A research engineer at Worldcoin, however, said that the project’s token distribution is “pretty good” compared to other popular tokens.

Jameson is far from being the only one questioning the future of Worldcoin. Ethereum core developer Tim Beiko also expressed his doubts, saying “cheap + open access FaceID” could potentially make Worldcoin “obsolete.”

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