Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency and digital identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, is inching closer to a mainnet launch with the rollout of a blockchain preview for developers.
On July 9, the Worldcoin Foundation announced the launch of the World Chain developer preview, a tool providing global developers with an opportunity to start building on the World Chain before its mainnet launch.
With the World Chain developer preview, devs will be able to deploy infrastructure on a “gated mainnet,” as World Chain is skipping a testnet, Remco Bloemen, head of protocol at the Worldcoin Foundation, told Cointelegraph.
World Chain devs have already been testing on the OP Stack
Bloemen mentioned that developers have already been testing the World Chain on the OP Stack, the open-source development framework maintained by the Optimism Collective and serving as a public resource for Ethereum and Optimism ecosystems.
“OP Stack has seen plenty of testing already — we know it works,” Bloemen said. He added that interested developers can apply for developer preview access on the official website of Worldcoin’s developer Tools for Humanity.
The Worldcoin Foundation launched support of Optimism and the Superchain before the network’s in July 202. In less than a year, Worldcoin user transactions have grown to about 50% of OP mainnet’s activity, making it the biggest application on the network.
Expected to be fully launched sometime in 2024, World Chain is a blockchain integrated with Worldcoin’s identity protocol, World ID, and is designed to enable real human transactions. The project aims to provide an ecosystem where people use the universal World ID as a global digital passport and create a global economy for as many people as possible, regardless of country or economic status.
The Worldcoin project was officially launched in July 2023, following three years of development. Worldcoin’s mission builds on providing tools to differentiate humans from AI by scanning an individual’s iris, which stands for intelligent retrieval information system.
After the scan, Worldcoin issues a World ID, allowing individuals to prove they are real human beings online.
10 million people in 160 countries will be able to use the World Chain once the mainnet launches
“When World Chain mainnet launches, more than 10 million people across 160 countries will be able to explore and use onchain apps through compatible wallets, starting with Tools for Humanity’s World App,” Bloemen said.
The upcoming World Chain mainnet is planned to enable a wide range of benefits, including scalable and cheap transactions, compatibility and interoperability.
“Being an Ethereum Virtual Machine chain, layer 2 to Ethereum and Superchain member, it is trivial to migrate existing projects and develop new ones using all the existing tooling,” Bloemen stated. He added that the World Chain will also focus on real-world utility, providing an ecosystem of decentralized financial and identity apps focused on utility for everyday life.
“This will be uniquely enabled by World ID’s Sybil resistance and built around Worldcoin, stablecoins, payments, rewards, ramps, lending, swapping and more,” the exec stated.
Additionally, the World Chain is expected to have a system of priority for humans. “As a permissionless network, everyone will be able to submit transactions to World Chain, but those created by verified humans will be prioritized for faster confirmation times,” Bloemen elaborated.