Why Sam Altman’s Worldcoin is facing backlash and falling apart

Worldcoin launched with an ambitious and unsettling pitch: scan your eyes, get free crypto, and join a global digital identity system. Backed by Sam Altman, better known as the CEO of OpenAI, the project promised to solve online identity and bot problems with a mix of biometrics and blockchain.

Today, Worldcoin is mostly known for privacy concerns, regulatory pushback, and a token that has lost most of its value. Let’s break down how the project works, why it’s so controversial, and what its recent missteps tell us about the future of biometric-based crypto.

How Worldcoin is structured

Worldcoin isn’t just a single company. It’s a web of related entities that make the project harder to understand from the outside.

First, there’s a for-profit company called Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman. Tools for Humanity created the Worldcoin token and the hardware behind it.

Then there’s the Worldcoin Foundation, a nominally nonprofit entity that is closely tied to the same people behind Tools for Humanity. The foundation is involved in overseeing the Worldcoin ecosystem and the World ID system.

This mix of for-profit and nonprofit, plus a token created out of thin air and distributed to users, has raised obvious questions about incentives, control, and who ultimately benefits if the system ever takes off.

How the orb, World ID, and the app work

Worldcoin’s most infamous feature is the “orb” – a shiny, spherical device equipped with high-resolution cameras. These orbs are deployed in physical locations around the world.

Here’s how the process works for users:

• You visit an orb operator and agree to have your iris scanned.
• The orb captures a detailed image of your eye and converts it into a unique biometric hash.
• You download the Worldcoin mobile app, which includes a crypto wallet.
• After verification, you receive a World ID (your “proof of personhood”) and some Worldcoin tokens as a reward.

The pitch is simple: because every iris is unique, World ID can prove you’re a real, unique human without constantly revealing your actual identity. Businesses, apps, and platforms would then pay to verify users via World ID, using Worldcoin as the payment and fee token.

In theory, this could help fight bots, fake accounts, and fraud across the internet. In practice, adoption has been extremely weak, and the privacy trade-offs are enormous.

Adoption is tiny and the token has crashed

Worldcoin launched its token in 2023 with big hype and even bigger promises. But more than two years later, real-world usage is minimal.

The token has lost around 80% of its value since its initial offering. That’s not unusual in crypto, but in this case it reflects a deeper problem: almost nobody seems to want to use World ID or pay fees in Worldcoin.

The tokenomics are working against holders:

• Large amounts of new Worldcoin are minted and distributed to people who agree to get their eyes scanned. This is inflationary and puts constant sell pressure on the token.
• Businesses that use World ID are supposed to pay fees in Worldcoin, and those fees are burned. That’s deflationary – but only if there’s meaningful usage.

Right now, the inflation (new tokens given away) appears to vastly outweigh any deflation from actual usage. With few businesses paying to integrate World ID, there’s little demand to offset the constant stream of new supply.

Tinder, Japan, and a shaky identity use case

One of Worldcoin’s biggest announcements was a partnership with Match Group, the company behind Tinder and Hinge. The idea: use World ID to verify that dating app users are real humans and over 18.

In Japan, dating apps are legally required to verify that users are at least 18 before they can message others. Tinder already complies by asking users to upload a government-issued ID and a selfie. Japan became the testbed for integrating World ID as an alternative verification method.

In practice, here’s what happens:

• You can verify with Tinder directly by uploading your ID and selfie.
• Or, if you’ve already gone through Worldcoin’s orb scan and World ID setup, you can link your World app to Tinder and skip Tinder’s own process.

Tinder claims this is faster, but the time savings are marginal at best. Taking a selfie and a photo of your ID only takes a few minutes. On top of that, Tinder already has its own Face ID-style system that uses a short video and AI to confirm that your profile photos are actually you, and to show a verification badge.

World ID doesn’t solve the core problem of catfishing or fake photos. A 60-year-old man could still create a profile as a 20-year-old woman; World ID only proves that there’s a real person behind the account, not that the photos are genuine.

Crucially, Tinder hasn’t disclosed how many Japanese users actually chose to verify via World ID. Given the friction of finding an orb and submitting to an iris scan, the number is likely very small.

The Japan orb rollout: a struggling partner and tiny numbers

To expand in Japan, Worldcoin partnered with Medirom, a Japanese company that operates a massage parlor chain called Riaku. Medirom is a struggling business: its NASDAQ-listed stock has fallen over 90% since its 2020 IPO and now trades as a penny stock with a tiny market cap.

For Worldcoin, this looks like a last-resort partner. Because the project is widely criticized and seen as creepy in many countries, more reputable retailers may have avoided associating with it. Medirom, in need of revenue and attention, agreed to host orbs in some of its locations.

At these massage parlors, posters advertise that you can receive 55,000 yen (around $350) for getting your eyes scanned. The catch: you’re paid in newly minted Worldcoin tokens, not cash. Tools for Humanity can create these tokens at almost no cost, so it’s essentially paying users with highly volatile, inflationary “funny money.”

Medirom reports how many World ID verifications it processes. The numbers are underwhelming:

• Verifications peaked at about 14,000 in Q4 2025.
• They dropped to around 10,500 in Q1 2026.
• In total, just over 30,000 people have been scanned at Riaku locations.

Japan has a population of more than 100 million. Thirty thousand scans is effectively zero in terms of national penetration. And many of those users likely showed up just to grab the free crypto, sold it, and never touched Worldcoin again.

Even for those who do link World ID to Tinder, there’s a social downside: a Worldcoin badge appears on your profile, signaling that you were willing to get your eyes scanned by a controversial crypto project. That’s not exactly an attractive flex on a dating app.

The Bruno Mars fiasco and Concert Kit

In April 2026, Worldcoin announced a new product called Concert Kit. The idea is to let artists and venues reserve a portion of tickets for “verified humans” to fight bots and scalpers. Users would verify via World ID, and ticketing platforms would integrate the system.

The original press release claimed that Concert Kit would roll out during the Bruno Mars world tour. Bruno Mars is one of the biggest artists on the planet, so this sounded like a huge validation.

There was just one problem: it wasn’t true.

Almost immediately, both Bruno Mars and Live Nation (the tour organizer) publicly denied any involvement with Worldcoin. Worldcoin was forced to edit its press release and quietly remove all references to Bruno Mars.

It turned out that Worldcoin’s actual partnership was with 30 Seconds to Mars, a much smaller rock band. Worldcoin claimed it was an honest mistake – they supposedly mixed up Bruno Mars with 30 Seconds to Mars because both names include “Mars.”

Whether you believe that or not, the damage was done. It looked like a desperate attempt to associate with a superstar artist that backfired badly.

Ticketmaster pushback and another exaggerated claim

Worldcoin didn’t stop there. At an event promoting Concert Kit, the company claimed the product was compatible with all major ticketing systems, including Ticketmaster. The implication was clear: artists selling through Ticketmaster could choose to reserve some tickets for World ID-verified fans.

But Ticketmaster quickly denied this. A spokesperson told IQ Magazine they were blindsided by Worldcoin’s announcement and had no plans to integrate World ID. Instead, Ticketmaster is working on its own identity verification tools.

For Concert Kit to work with Ticketmaster, there would need to be a formal integration and technical cooperation. Ticketmaster’s response made it clear that no such arrangement existed. Once again, Worldcoin appeared to be overstating its progress and partnerships.

Privacy, control, and a dystopian vision

Beyond the PR blunders and weak adoption, the core idea behind Worldcoin is what worries many people the most.

The long-term vision looks like this:

• Billions of people enroll in World ID by scanning their irises.
• Major platforms – social media, banks, dating apps, ticketing sites – start requiring World ID to prove you’re a real human.
• If you refuse to participate, you risk being locked out of key parts of modern digital life.

In that world, a single, privately controlled system would sit at the center of global identity verification. Every time you prove you’re human, fees flow through the Worldcoin ecosystem. That’s a powerful and potentially dangerous choke point for surveillance, censorship, and monetization of human identity.

And it’s not as if Worldcoin has invented a new way to verify people. The basic building blocks – video selfies, government ID scans, and AI-based face matching – have existed for years. Many platforms already use them without demanding your biometric iris data or tying it to a speculative token.

For many critics, Worldcoin’s model looks less like innovation and more like an attempt to bolt a controversial token onto a creepy biometric database and call it a solution to bots.

Why Worldcoin is struggling – and what users can do

Put all of this together, and it’s not surprising that Worldcoin is floundering:

• The token is highly inflationary and has crashed in value.
• Real-world adoption is tiny, even in markets where it’s actively pushed.
• Partnerships are weak, overstated, or quickly denied by big brands.
• Regulators in multiple countries have raised serious privacy concerns or outright banned the project.
• The core vision depends on mass enrollment and business adoption that simply isn’t materializing.

Yet the organization behind Worldcoin is still well-funded and pushing hard. That means the project can continue to expand, especially in regions where people are more vulnerable to financial incentives and less protected by strong privacy laws.

If you’re a crypto user or just someone who cares about digital rights, there are a few practical steps to consider:

• Don’t submit to iris scans or hand over sensitive biometric data for speculative tokens.
• If orbs appear in your city, educate friends and family about the long-term risks of tying their identity to a private, crypto-based system.
• Support projects and platforms that prioritize privacy, open standards, and user control instead of centralized biometric databases.

Crypto doesn’t have to mean surveillance and biometric harvesting. There are healthier ways to participate in the ecosystem, from learning how to self-custody your assets to exploring more transparent payment tools like those covered in our review of crypto payment processors or preparing thoughtfully for the next cycle with guides like how to get ready for the next bull run.

Worldcoin set out to build a global identity layer for the internet. So far, it looks more like a warning about how not to mix crypto, biometrics, and power.