Sam Altman’s World Network debuts crypto-enabled chat feature

World Network, formerly Worldcoin and a blockchain project co-founded by OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman, has launched a new chat application aimed at connecting real humans.

World Chat, the World Network (WLD) team announced on March 6, is a “mini app” that users can access to connect with and interact with real humans. The app, currently in beta, will feature end-to-end encryption to help maintain user privacy.

The launch of World Chat represents World Network’s latest effort to bring its proof-of-personhood feature to the global community.

According to details in their blog post, the mini app integrates with the project’s World ID protocol and World App wallet, allowing users to determine whether the individual they are chatting with is verified as a real human. The goal, according to World Chat developers, is to help users tackle the problem of bots.

Like iPhone maker Apple’s iMessage, World Chat will use chat bubbles to distinguish between verified and unverified identities. In this case, the mini app will display blue chat bubbles for verified accounts and grey bubbles for unverified ones.

“By connecting to World ID, World Chat allows you to know when you’re chatting with a verified human. Conversations with verified World ID holders feature a blue chat bubble as well as a unique World ID gem in the upper right corner. Conversations with non-verified accounts feature a grey chat bubble and no such gem,” the World Network team wrote.

Beyond chatting capabilities, World Chat will allow users to send and receive cryptocurrencies. In addition to digital finance, developers can also leverage the protocol’s software development kit to integrate proof-of-human applications and services.

World, formely Worldcoin, launched in July 2023, allowing people to verify their human identity via its iris-scanning orbs. Despite notable hurdles and regulatory challenges, the project’s World App wallet has registered more than 24 million users. The project has surpassed 11 million verified unique humans.

Meanwhile, more than 486 million of the native token WLD has been distributed to people across 160 countries.