Redefining On-chain Digital Identity in the AI Age
By Abdul Al-Ali, Web3 Venture Investor, Decasonic
October 17th, 2024: World Chain, a blockchain founded by Sam Altman, went live with the stated mission of being the human-first blockchain. With the highest number of verified humans on any chain, World Chain is fostering a blockchain ecosystem that serves humanity. At Decasonic, we see World Chain as redefining digital identity in the age of AI by blending on-chain and off-chain identity verification, and altering how humans interact, transact, and engage on-chain.
Core Components: The World Ecosystem
The World ecosystem is centered around three core components, with each component driving the vision of a human-first blockchain:
The Orb: An AI-enabled device allowing users to claim their World ID through iris scan verification, enabling them to claim $WLD tokens. Currently, 920+ active Orbs are facilitating this process in retail locations worldwide.
World ID: Upon completing a double iris scan via the Orb, users receive their World ID. Stored directly on World Chain, this ID prevents duplicate usage of the same iris scan and provides priority transaction access, including limited gas-free transactions for verified users.
World App: A gateway to the World ecosystem, the app includes an app store and dedicated hot wallet that support 34+ applications across categories like social, gaming, business, and finance. With over 16.18+ million active users, the World App simplifies fiat on-ramping with built-in payment options through PayPal and Apple Pay.
World ($WLD): As the ecosystem’s reward token, $WLD supports network fees and functions as a utility token across several applications in the World App Store. Long-term, $WLD is envisioned as the foundation for a universal basic income model.
A Mission-Driven Vision
Formerly known as Worldcoin, World was founded in July 2023 by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. Its mission is to provide a unique digital identity for every individual on-chain, empowering secure and real human actions in an increasingly AI agentic world. In April 2024, World expanded its ecosystem to introduce World Chain, which aims to accelerate the human-first vision.
AI Agents: A Growing Presence
AI Agents are evolving exponentially, and becoming integrated in more applications. It now takes minutes to create, deploy, and launch your personalized AI agent, often with no coding experience required using widely-available tools from companies like Microsoft and Anthropic. A visible reflection of the growing presence of AI Agents is social media, with social media users increasingly facing challenges in distinguishing content from bots, AI Agents, and humans. In addition to their presence on popular social media platforms, AI Agents are now hosted and transacting on-chain with agents like Truth Terminal, Forest, and Luna’s functionalities continuously evolving. These agents often embody enhanced intelligence, and are increasingly autonomous. A testament to their enhanced intelligence is the recent interaction between Aether and Clanker World, two AI agents on Farcaster. This unique interaction highlights the collaboration potential between AI Agents, and demonstrates the rapid evolution of the Agents’ capabilities. It is interesting to note that prior to the introduction of agents capable of executing on-chain transactions, up to 80% of current blockchain transactions was estimated to be automated. As the deployment and functionalities of agents increase, we believe more blockspace and transactions will be dominated by agents.
As the infrastructure for AI Agent deployments becomes more widespread and readily available, more projects are exploring the development of infrastructure for AI Agents, with dedicated blockchains for the creation, deployment, launch, and trade of personalized AI Agents enabled by Agent Layer and Talus Network. World Chain is positioned at the opposite end of the spectrum, with World ID and the World Ecosystem components uniquely positioned to foster a human-first infrastructure that prioritizes humans and is built for humans.
AI Agents: A Growing Presence
AI has made generating realistic, manipulated content (Deep Fakes) remarkably easy. World Chain’s ecosystem components, especially World ID, offer a countermeasure to deep fakes. By verifying content sources through World ID, the authenticity of creators and publishers can be confirmed, allowing consumers to trust the authenticity of content published.
Through the unique “Deep Face” feature, combining Orb iris scans, data custody, and Face Auth, World Chain also verifies human interactions in real-time video and chat settings, mitigating deep fake risks.
Redefining Airdrop Distribution Mechanisms
Filtering out bot and AI-driven behavior remains a core challenge in airdrop distributions. Automated agents exploit airdrops, fostering artificial communities that lack genuine engagement. By requiring World ID for airdrop participation, World Chain ensures that only verified human participants benefit, cultivating a genuine, AI-free community that fosters real interaction and collaboration.
World Chain’s Proof of Personhood also addresses Sybil attacks associated with airdrops, promoting fairer distributions by requiring World ID verification to claim rewards.
World Chain’s Growing Ecosystem and Partnerships
World Chain’s growth is further strengthened by strategic partnerships with major communication and social media platforms like FaceTime, WhatsApp, and Zoom. Sam Altman’s influence secures a robust network within the AI community, opening possibilities for collaboration with OpenAI and other leading AI firms. Such partnerships could enable World ID holders to host ChatGPT and other models across decentralized nodes, advancing an accessible and censorship-resistant decentralized AI ecosystem.
Use Cases and Market Opportunities
World Chain has seen rapid adoption, attracting 86 projects and applications in less than a month, with 39.6% available in the World App Store. World Chain infrastructure offers exciting potential at the convergence of identity, Web3, and AI.
As of November 2024, World Chain is one of the largest blockchains by verified on-chain humans, with over 432,000 new accounts in the last week, totaling more than 185,000. The ecosystem, powered by 16.18+ million World App users and 7.2+ million Orb-verified humans, offers developers a blockchain rich in real human engagement.
World Chain’s unique iris verification through the Orb provides broad accessibility and distribution for identity verification, positioning it as a leader in the AI-enabled identity blockchain ecosystem. At Decasonic, we believe World Chain is pioneering on-chain human experiences with potential for unique identity and decentralized AI applications. Founders building on World Chain stand to benefit from the ecosystem’s distribution mechanism, human-first positioning, and complimentary ecosystem components.
Decasonic’s Market Map for World Chain
Following the structure in our previous Market Maps, the World Chain Market Map is organized along two axes:
X-Axis: Ranges from foundational infrastructure to application-level offerings.
Y-Axis: Differentiates between Web3-native use cases and those designed for broader mainstream adoption.
Categories:
Gaming: Includes Web3 games across genres and user models, such as Play-to-Earn and Tap-to-Earn.
Consumer:
AI Agent Launchpads: Platforms that let users co-own, deploy, and launch AI Agents on-chain.
AI Companions: Personalized AI Companions executing transactions like recurring payments and tailored DeFi strategies.
Token Launchpad: Facilitates the launch of various token types, including meme and community tokens.
NFTs: Provides exclusive access to gated communities.
Community Tokens: Comprises meme tokens, blockchain tokens, utility, and reward tokens.
Finance: Financial applications integrating blockchain with budgeting and asset management tools.
Commerce: Enables crypto-based purchases.
DAOs: Community-led decision-making governance protocols.
Tokenized Loyalty: Identity-based loyalty programs that link brands with consumers.
SocialFi: Decentralized social applications with user ownership and community features.
Entertainment: Involves NFTs, collectibles, film, blogs, and blockchain-enhanced content.
AI:
AI Devices: AI-powered devices offering enhanced personalization.
AI Agents: On-chain AI agents with autonomous transaction capabilities.
Deep Fake Tools: Tools specifically designed to address deepfake content.
Training & Fine Tuning: AI model training supported by private, transparent blockchain processes.
Decentralized AI Models: Blockchain-hosted AI models on decentralized nodes.
Data Marketplace: A hybrid DePIN and AI marketplace allowing data ownership and monetization.
Identity: Solutions enabling digital identity ownership and cross-platform monetization.
DeFi:
DEX: Peer-to-peer marketplaces for token swaps using AMMs and CLOBs.
Staking: APY mechanisms supporting TVL and security.
Bridge: Protocols for cross-blockchain asset transfers.
Infrastructure:
Development: Tools for dApp creation.
Analytics: Data insights for developers and communities.
Data: Integrating off-chain data with blockchain and AI.
Wallet: Wallets for asset management and dApp interaction.
Payments: Streamlined transactions with fewer intermediaries.
Devices: Integrating blockchain and AI with physical devices.
Blockchain: Decentralized protocol foundational layer.
Explorer: Tools for viewing transactions, contracts, and wallet addresses.
Interoperability: Cross-chain operability solutions, including bridges.
Key Verticals in which World Chain is Positioned to Lead
As the World Chain ecosystem grows, it is redefining on-chain digital identity, linking on-chain and off-chain identities, and advancing AI-powered human-centric blockchain experiences across key verticals:
SocialFi: World ID gated experiences reduce bot influence, promoting genuine social interaction. Collaborations with WhatsApp, FaceTime, and Zoom may drive wider distribution and integration into social media applications.
Commerce: World Chain ensures verified-user transactions with potential for reputation scoring, blending on-chain and off-chain data for meaningful insights.
Tokenized Loyalty: Enhances relationships between brands and users through identity-based recommendations.
DAOs: World Chain provides human-only access to voting, preventing bot-driven influence.
NFTs: World ID ensures that NFTs are accessible only to verified community members, fostering human-driven experiences.
AI:
AI Agents: Prioritizes human transactions over AI-driven ones by distinguishing between verified and unverified identities.
AI Devices: Leverages on-chain and off-chain data for personalized device interactions.
Training & Fine Tuning: Supports accurate AI training through human interaction.
Decentralized Models: Enforces World ID verification to ensure decentralized model hosting by verified users.
Deep Fake Tools: World ID verification combats deep fakes by validating content sources.
Data Marketplace: Facilitates authentic, verified data exchanges for companies.
Identity: World ID redefines identity verification by blending on-chain and off-chain sources seamlessly.
If you are a founder building on World Chain, we would love to be a partner in your journey, pushing you to pursue greatness and transform your vision into reality.
The content of this material is strictly for informational and educational purposes and is not meant to constitute investment advice or a recommendation or a solicitation to buy or sell any asset or to make any financial decision. Nothing in these blog posts should be considered legal or tax advice. You should consult with your own professional advisor before making any financial decision. Decasonic offers no warranties on any content in the material posted in these blog posts, including that it is accurate, complete, or correct. The opinions expressed in these posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Decasonic. Decasonic is not liable for any errors or omissions in the content of this newsletter or for any actions taken based on the information provided herein.