Sam Altman’s World Foundation raised $65 million via an over-the-counter sale of its WLD token, which has reached new record lows. In a post on X, the foundation said World Assets, its token issuance arm, sold WLD to four counterparties over the past week, with the first tranche settling on March 20. The transactions were priced at an average of about $0.27 per token, implying roughly 239 million WLD changed hands.
The foundation said the proceeds will fund core operations, R&D, orb manufacturing, ecosystem development and more. Of the total, $25 million of tokens are subject to a six-month lockup; the remainder were immediately liquid.
WLD fell briefly to an all-time low near $0.24 after the announcement before recovering to about $0.27, leaving it down roughly 97% from its March 2024 peak near $11.82. The token was trading around $0.2725, up about 0.28% over the prior day, according to CoinMarketCap.
Additional supply pressure could arrive: a large community token unlock is scheduled for July 23, covering roughly 52.5% of total supply per DefiLlama, though not all unlocked tokens are expected to enter circulation at once. The new sale occurred at a steep discount to prior rounds; in May last year World raised $135 million at about $1.13 per token from backers including Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto.
The sale comes amid regulatory and operational challenges. In October, Thai authorities raided an iris-scanning site linked to World; the country’s SEC, working with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, said the service may have operated without a license, prompting arrests and an investigation. Since launching in 2023, World has faced probes and pushback in multiple countries — including Indonesia, Germany, Kenya and Brazil — with concerns spanning licensing and the handling of sensitive biometric data.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently. Read our Editorial Policy at https://cointelegraph.com/editorial-policy