World Foundation Sells $65M in WLD Tokens Near All-Time Low

The World Foundation, the nonprofit behind the biometric identity protocol formerly known as Worldcoin, announced on Saturday that its subsidiary sold approximately 239 million WLD tokens worth $65 million through a series of over-the-counter deals. The sale raises fresh capital as WLD trades more than 97 percent below its all-time high.

OTC Sale Details | Price and Structure

The tokens were sold through OTC transactions rather than open-market sales, a method commonly used to move large crypto positions without triggering immediate price impact on exchanges. At the implied sale price of roughly $0.27 per token, WLD was trading near its lowest levels since the protocol launched publicly in 2023. The foundation did not name the buyers or disclose the terms of any lock-up agreements attached to the tokens.

The World Foundation said proceeds will fund ongoing operations, including the global expansion of its iris-scanning orb network and continued development of World ID, the on-chain identity credential at the center of the protocol. The foundation has positioned World ID as infrastructure for verifying human identity in an era of AI-generated content and autonomous agents, an argument that has gained more traction in policy conversations than in token markets.

WLD Price Context | 97% Below All-Time High

WLD reached an all-time high of approximately $11.74 in March 2024, driven by speculation around AI identity demand and a wave of token unlocks that briefly tightened circulating supply. The token has declined sharply since, pressured by a steady stream of foundation and investor unlocks, thin real-world utility, and broader risk-off sentiment in altcoin markets. At the time of the announced sale, WLD was trading near $0.27, giving the fully diluted network a value of well under $1 billion against a peak valuation that once exceeded $30 billion.

The sale comes as stablecoin and identity-layer crypto projects have drawn renewed regulatory interest in Washington. The Trump-linked WLFI stablecoin project has been among the higher-profile entrants in the space, while separate legislation targeting stablecoin yield bans in the Coinbase Clarity Act has rattled crypto equity markets. Analysts tracking the sector say identity and stablecoin infrastructure projects are increasingly being evaluated together by institutional allocators.

World Foundation's Broader Capital Strategy

This is not the first time the foundation has raised capital through token sales. It conducted a similar OTC transaction in late 2024, selling WLD at prices well above current levels. The repeated use of OTC sales rather than exchange-based liquidation suggests the foundation is trying to avoid suppressing the token price further, though critics argue the persistent unlock schedule has structurally overwhelmed any demand the project generates.

Tools for Humanity, the San Francisco-based company that builds the physical orb hardware and much of the protocol software, operates separately from the foundation but shares commercial alignment. The orb rollout has faced regulatory obstacles in several countries, including Germany, Kenya, and Brazil, where data protection authorities have raised concerns about the collection and storage of biometric iris data from users who may not fully understand the trade-offs involved.

For investors watching the broader stablecoin and identity infrastructure space, the WLD sale is a reminder that even projects with significant conceptual relevance to the AI moment can struggle to translate narrative into durable token value. The foundation's ability to raise $65 million at deeply depressed prices suggests institutional appetite for the underlying thesis, but the terms of those OTC deals, and whether buyers received discounts below spot, remain undisclosed.