Worldcoin to Pay Orb Operators in WLD From November

Controversial digital ID project Worldcoin is set to swap its Orb Operator rewards from the USDC stablecoin to its native WLD tokens by the end of November, the company said in a blog post on 22 October.

According to the announcement, the Worldcoin is planning to transition its rewards system for Orb Operators — individuals tasked with scanning people’s irises using the Orb device — from the USDC stablecoin to the WLD token. The project noted that these “independent ecosystem participants” were paid in USDC as part of the project’s transitional phase after launch, but now that the phase is nearing its end the project will move to pay these individuals entirely in WLD. Worldcoin said in its blog post:

“On October 10, 2023, the Worldcoin Foundation kicked off a pilot program, granting rewards to select Operators in WLD. Thus, as of October 10, 2023, the Operator rewards paid out in WLD are also contributing to the growing circulating supply of WLD. In November 2023, the Worldcoin Foundation expects that the transition process will be completed such that all Operators will receive WLD going forward.”

Worldcoin noted that Orb Operators should check if they are able to receive rewards as the WLD tokens are currently not available to people and companies in the United States and “certain other restricted territories”. The company also gave an update on the WLD circulating supply, noting that out of the 134 million WLD issued, 100 million were given as loans to market makers, while only 34 million were distributed to users and Orb Operators in the form of grants.

The digital ID project said these loans were due to expire on 24 October, but it was ready to extend the expiration date to 15 December with a reduced amount of 75 million WLD. The market makers will return, or purchase, the remaining 25 million tokens as part of the loan agreement.