Sweeping against the trend after a 90% decline? a16z and Bain invested $135 million in WLD

Written by 1912212.eth, Foresight News

On May 21, World Foundation announced that its subsidiary, World Assets Ltd., had sold $135 million worth of WLD tokens to early backers Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Crypto at market prices, and the WLD price briefly rose by more than 13% to a maximum of $1.29, with a 70% surge in trading volume.

In response, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougam tweeted that "the price of the WLD that a16z and Bain bought with huge sums of money, the price of the token has fallen by 90% in the past 14 months. I've never seen anything like this before. Honestly, it's kind of funny."

Two venture capital funds went down to buy tokens without discounts

According to Worldcoin's official announcement, this is not a new round of venture capital, but a direct purchase of WLD tokens by two venture capital funds, including well-known venture capitalists a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. The funds will be used primarily to accelerate the expansion of the World network, specifically to support its presence in the U.S. market, including the construction of an Orb manufacturing facility in Richardson, Texas, to mass-produce authentication devices for iris scanning. According to the official blog, as of April 28, 2025, WLD has 1.3 billion in circulation, accounting for 13% of the total supply.

It is worth mentioning that this is also another big purchase of tokens by a16z since the beginning of this year. The last time was back in April this year, when a16z spent $55 million to buy LayerZero's ZRO tokens, with a 3-year lock-up period.

Worldcoin was co-founded in 2019 by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and others to build a global identity verification system called "World ID" through iris scanning technology to distinguish humans from AI and respond to the growing demand for digital identity. In May 2023, Tools for Humanity, a Worldcoin development company, closed a $115 million Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital with participation from a16z, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global.

As of May 2025, the Worldcoin network has attracted more than 26 million users, 12.5 million of whom have an Orb-verified World ID. Worldcoin already has a certain user base around the world, especially in emerging markets.

The token sale comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market as a whole is picking up. Bitcoin has recently hit new all-time highs, driving up the prices of several tokens, including WLD. Worldcoin chose to conduct a large-scale token sale at this time, both to capture the market boom and to fund its expansion in the US market.

So why did the two VCs choose to buy WLD tokens at this time?

a16z and Bain are typical long-term investors whose goal is usually to capture platform-level opportunities rather than short-term hype. WLDs are at a low point, but they may be an undervalued time in terms of technology, teamwork, and ambition. Market panic and valuation mismatch are an opportunity, and the 90% decline has sent many investors out of the market in a panic, but for sophisticated institutions, it can be just a sign that prices are significantly below intrinsic value. They may think that the market is overreacting, and that this is an ideal time for a low-sucking layout.

In addition, Worldcoin's tough defence of privacy controversy at Consensus 2025 has further boosted investor confidence. The team emphasised that its iris scan data is stored locally, which is in line with privacy protection requirements, which alleviates the market's concerns about data security to a certain extent.

Develop the layout of the U.S. market and technological innovation

One of the core goals of this VC purchase token is to support Worldcoin's expansion in the U.S. market. Worldcoin has launched its identity verification system "World ID" in the United States on May 1 and has opened iris scanning service points in six cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami.

In addition, with the World App debit card project in partnership with Visa and the age verification pilot on Tinder with Match Group, Worldcoin continues to move in the financial and social sectors, not only enhancing Worldcoin's brand presence, but also supporting the real-world use case of its token WLD.

On a technical level, the launch of Worldcoin's Orb Mini device and World ID version 3.0 marks its continued innovation in blockchain and biometric technology. NVIDIA-powered Orb devices are able to efficiently scan iris and generate privacy-preserving digital identities, which is important in the context of countering AI-generated content. Worldcoin has also launched the World Chain blockchain, which prioritises human-verified transactions, further strengthening the integrity of its technology ecosystem.

brief summary

Despite the promising prospects, Worldcoin still faces challenges. The first is the issue of privacy. Despite the team's repeated emphasis on its data protection measures, iris scanning technology has sparked controversy in several regions around the world. In early May 2025, Indonesia suspended Worldcoin's operations due to privacy concerns, and Spain and Portugal have also launched investigations into how it collects data. These regulatory pressures may limit the speed at which Worldcoin can expand in certain markets. Finally, Worldcoin's business model is not yet fully mature. While its user base is growing rapidly, it will take time to verify how to translate iris scanning technology and WLD tokens into sustainable business value.

However, Jake Brukhman, co-founder of CoinFund and one of Worldcoin's earliest investors, was optimistic, saying in a retweet of a long WLD post, "I first bought Bitcoin at a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of about $10 billion. That was 12 years ago, and vested interests of all kinds, from the news media to financial institutions to governments, were almost all trying to stifle it, and it has only recently changed. WLD will be a more widely distributed currency and will move forward in an era with a variety of tailwinds: including a positive regulatory environment, iOS support for crypto, and the blockchain innovation of the past 12 years is about to enter the practical application stage."