Worldcoin Ditches Token Incentives for Paid Verification in Phase 3 Expansion
Worldcoin, the identity project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has entered its third phase of development. This milestone marks a significant shift in focus for the network, moving from token-incentivized growth to paid verification for enterprises, consumer apps, and AI agents.
The transition is aimed at reaching 'critical scale and initial utility' as outlined in the project's founding framework. With over 18 million human credentials issued and more than 450 million uses of World ID enabled, Worldcoin believes it has reached a critical mass to justify a fee-based model.
One key area of expansion is the integration with AI agents, which saw a 7,851% year-over-year growth in traffic from agents and agentic browsers in 2025. To address this trend, Worldcoin introduced AgentKit, a toolkit that extends World ID into agentic workflows through agent delegation, human-in-the-loop verification, and agentic commerce.
On the consumer side, World's verification is now live on Tinder, while Reddit has signaled interest in implementing privacy-first proof-of-human checks for accounts flagged as automated. Enterprises such as Zoom are also expected to integrate World's Deep Face verification through its ISV platform within six months, which Worldcoin sees as a significant revenue opportunity.
As part of this new phase, Worldcoin will be rewiring its business model from token grants and referral rewards to paid fees for applications. Verified users may receive perks such as Tinder Boosts instead of tokens. The project also aims to reduce its operational footprint by cutting costs outside focus countries.