The Worldcoin Foundation, part of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Worldcoin project, have unveiled a developer preview for World Chain, a new blockchain designed to help support and scale the Worldcoin network and cryptocurrency.
Built using Optimism‘s OP Stack, the preview for World Chain will allow developers access to it’s Ethereum Layer-2 base, allowing them to begin to write applications for the chain, and to provide feedback to its development team.
Launched in July 2023, Worldcoin utilises physical devices – deployed in major cities around the world – to scan people’s irises to prove their humanity. This allows users to collect Worldcoin tokens, and supplies them with a World ID, a proof-of-humanity verifier for the AI era, with over 6 million verified users so far.
What is World Chain?
According to a blog post, the aim of World Chain is “to prioritize humans”, and to be “permissionless, open source and independently governed by the humans it represents.”
World Chain will become the new base for all World ID integrations, with all World App users to be migrated to World Chain later in 2024. Some of these integrations are set to include applications for stablecoin finance, commerce, and “ways to take advantage of a proof of humanness for users”.
“The launch of World Chain’s developer preview marks a significant step forward,” said Ryan Wyatt, Chief Growth Officer at Optimism – who’s OP Stack is powering World Chain. “[This enables] Worldcoin’s developers to leverage the power of the OP Stack to build ambitious applications, further enhancing the Superchain’s impact.”
What does the World Chain hope to achieve?
One of the key factors behind the development of World Chain is the scalability challenges that come with an audience of over 6 million verified users, and to future-proofing these systems with additional growth in mind.
World Chain’s target is to reach 5M Gas/second, double that of the current Optimism Mainnet setting, which they believe will be fast enough to handle the expected transaction throughput of millions of users.
To address ever-present privacy and security concerns, World Chain will be one of the first chains to launch as a Stage 1 rollup, fortified with a fault proof mechanism. This is designed to “reliably identify and revert fraudulent transactions”, and to “[maintain] the rollup’s security, integrity and decentralization.”
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