OpenAI social network explores iris verification, Worldcoin (WLD) surges over 40% in a single day

“OpenAI may utilize World’s iris scanning sphere technology to ensure its planned social networking platform is free from bot accounts.”

Forbes disclosed this news in a report on January 28, 2026. The report states that the AI giant OpenAI, co-founded by Sam Altman, is exploring technical integration with the Worldcoin project also driven by it. The core goal of this potential collaboration is to build a pure social media environment limited to “verified humans” to address the current problem of mainstream platforms being flooded with automated bot accounts.

Breaking News

According to Forbes, citing anonymous sources, a small internal team at OpenAI is secretly developing a new social media platform. The platform’s main feature will be strict human identity verification to create a communication space entirely free of robots. To achieve this, the development team is evaluating multiple biometric technology options. Among them, the iconic “iris scanning sphere” of the World project and Apple’s mature Face ID system are the primary candidates.

Analysts believe that OpenAI’s move aims to leverage the huge influence of its star products like ChatGPT and Sora to enter the social domain, using “human uniqueness” as its core differentiator to challenge the existing social media landscape.

Key Technology Player

At the center of this rumor is the World project, originally known as Worldcoin. Its founding mission is to solve the “proof of personhood” problem in the digital age.

Users scan their irises with a spherical device called Orb to generate a unique, privacy-protecting “World ID.” As an incentive to participate in creating a global digital identity network, users receive the project’s native cryptocurrency WLD. The project is developed by Tools for Humanity, whose co-founder is current OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. This deep founder connection adds high credibility to the collaboration rumors.

According to data from the World official website, the project has attracted over 17 million users worldwide, establishing a large biometric database.

Market Reaction

The collaboration rumors have had an immediate impact on the crypto market. The price of the Worldcoin token WLD has experienced significant volatility.

Data from Gate indicates that as of January 29, 2026, WLD’s price change over the past 24 hours was +13.19%, with active trading sentiment, and a 24-hour trading volume of $18.71M. Previously, market data showed that when the news first broke, its price surged over 40%, and although it later pulled back, it still maintained notable growth.

This strong market performance directly reflects investors’ positive interpretation of the potential collaboration. The market generally believes that adoption by a top AI company like OpenAI would serve as the ultimate endorsement of Worldcoin’s iris verification technology path, greatly enhancing its technical credibility and commercial prospects.

Latest Market Data and In-Depth Analysis

Based on the latest data from the Gate platform as of January 29, 2026, we can take a more comprehensive look at WLD:

Current Market Overview:

• Worldcoin (WLD) current price is $0.5233.
• Circulating market cap is $1.46B, accounting for 0.16% of the entire crypto market.
• Circulating supply is 2.77 billion WLD, with a maximum total supply of 10 billion WLD.

Historical Performance Review:

WLD’s price history has been volatile. Its all-time high reached $11.96, and its lowest was $0.25. Over the past year, its price has decreased by -67.54%, but recently it has shown signs of recovery, with a +7.73% change over the past 30 days and +9.71% over the past 7 days.

Future Price Outlook Based on Historical Data:

Many market analysis models project future prices based on historical data, tokenomics, and ecosystem development. Below is a scenario analysis based on historical volatility and growth assumptions, not an exact prediction, but to illustrate potential price ranges:

Note that such analysis is highly dependent on many variables, including project adoption rate, overall crypto market trends, regulatory changes, and whether the collaboration with OpenAI can truly materialize. Actual market movements may differ significantly from any model.

Challenges and Future Opportunities

Despite the promising outlook, Worldcoin and its WLD token face significant challenges. Regulatory scrutiny worldwide is one of the biggest uncertainties. Collecting biometric data has triggered strict investigations by data privacy authorities in regions like the EU and the US. Successful promotion of the project must overcome compliance and user trust barriers.

Additionally, the identity verification sector itself is highly competitive. OpenAI’s team is also considering Apple’s Face ID, indicating multiple technological solutions may exist. The Orb device must demonstrate advantages in accuracy, accessibility, and user acceptance.

From an opportunity perspective, if integration with OpenAI’s social network can be achieved, it would be revolutionary. It would bring real, large-scale use cases to the WLD token economy, helping it transition from a “concept token” to a “utility token.”

As of January 2026, over 17 million users have been verified on the Worldcoin network. If OpenAI’s “human-only” social network dream comes true, this number may just be the beginning of future growth. As AI-generated content becomes ubiquitous, distinguishing real from virtual will become increasingly costly and important. Sam Altman holds cutting-edge AI technology in one hand and a digital identity project aiming to verify human uniqueness in the other. The intersection of these two may be quietly shaping the underlying architecture of the next-generation internet—a digital world where participation requires self-asserted “humanity.” The outcome of this experiment will have profound implications for the digital lives of billions.