New SEC filing for Grayscale’s World Coin ETF reveals just 100 wallets hold approximately 90% of all circulating currency $WLD — Co-founder Sam Altman The level of centralization at Coin for the World is alarming.
These numbers stand in contrast to the token’s white paper, which outlined a simple goal tied to eyeball-scanning orbs and token giveaways around the world. $WLD Tokens will be claimed by individuals simply because they are verified and unique human beings. ”
It would be bad enough if that was WorldCoin’s only decentralization failure.
Unfortunately, the filing also acknowledges that the project relies on governance with little use of a centralized sequencer, upgrade capabilities, bridge operators, and its own so-called governance tokens.
any of the above $WLD The wallet is 0x470458C91978D2d929704489Ad730DC3E3001113 and is a bridge between Ethereum and the World Chain, possibly representing multiple users.
Grayscale reveals the real tokenomics of World Coin
Admission comes not from critics, but from Grayscale, the sponsor who wants to keep the band together. $WLD The tokens will be included in a NASDAQ-listed ETF and the shares will be sold to individual investors.
Grayscale filed an S-1 application for the ETF on July 20, proposing to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol GWLD.
The risk factors are clearly stated as follows: $WLD The wallet contained about 90%. $WLD It’s in circulation. ”
Worldcoin and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman posted in October 2021 that Worldcoin “will be fairly distributed to as many people as possible.”
The project white paper predicts: “The majority of humans alive today are $WLD token, resulting in $WLD It will become the most widely distributed digital currency. ”
The word “may” is doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
Grayscale’s lawyers needed to tally up actual numbers, not wishes. Their disclaimer states, “It is possible, and indeed quite likely, that a small group of early $WLD Employers may hold a significant percentage. $WLD Released to date. ”
That’s the summary. Altman’s coin went overwhelmingly to the 1%.
world network $WLD 98% drop amid legal battle between Altman and Musk
Worldcoin, non-governmental governance token
$WLD Although nominally a governance token, it wasn’t particularly useful.
According to the submitted documents, $WLD “In the future, it may be used to participate in the governance of the World Network.” Future migration mechanisms are “novel and have not been tested at scale.”
For now, governance “remains substantially guided by the World Foundation,” the application acknowledges.
All of these legal disclaimers are certainly different from Worldcoin’s initial marketing materials.
In December 2023, the project declared:
“This will enable us to achieve a one-person, one-vote democracy that was previously impossible.”
One person, one vote, someday I’m sure
The idea of one person, one vote works when each person only has one vote. This is certainly not the case $WLDdistribution of ownership.
It would also be helpful if community voting actually took place.
Indeed, its 2024 White Paper promises: $WLD The token will be used for protocol governance alongside World ID. ”
But Grayscale’s filing shows that very few governance votes have taken place. “As of the date of this prospectus, World Network’s governance continues to be substantially directed by the World Foundation, which has expressed its intention to gradually decentralize its governance over time,” it states.
In other words, governance is currently not decentralized.
Grayscale recognizes the centralization of World Coin
Grayscale’s filing this week also revealed that the project relies on a single blockchain sequencer.
“World Chain’s sequencer operates on a centralized basis, and World Chain is in the early stages of decentralization compared to the Ethereum network.”
The upgrade feature, or filing note, is under “coordinated control by a limited number of participants” tied to the World Foundation, Tools for Humanity, which supports Worldcoin, and Optimism, the operator of Ethereum layer 2 on which Worldcoin’s smart contracts depend.
Announcing World Chain in April 2024, World Coin declared, “For World Chain to be successful, it must be built, owned, and governed by all of humanity.”
In reality, all of humanity is far from governing the World Coin.
As of May 2025, the Foundation promised that “the transition to complete decentralization is following a precise roadmap. We plan to reach the final stage by the second half of 2026.”
The current deadline is July 2026, but that deadline has not yet been met.
Finally, Worldcoin’s iris scan orb completes today’s pattern of centralization while talking about decentralization in the future tense.
Grayscale acknowledges that as of today, WorldCoin’s “orbs are primarily produced and distributed by or under the direction of Tools for Humanity, and the World Foundation exercises significant influence over the protocol.” $WLD Subsidies to the Treasury and the ecosystem. ”
$WLD At the time of publication, it was trading around $0.40, down 20% year-to-date and 96% below its March 2024 peak of $11.74.
Protoss contacted World for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
