Sweeping against the trend after a 90% decline? a16z and Bain invested $135 million in WLD
Words: 1912212.eth, Foresight News
On May 21, the World Foundation announced that its subsidiary, World Assets Ltd., sold $135 million worth of WLD tokens to early backers Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Crypto at market prices. As soon as this news was released, the price of WLD briefly rose by more than 13%, reaching a high of $1.29, and the trading volume surged by 70%.
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."
According to Worldcoin's official announcement, this is not a new round of venture capital, but two venture capital funds through the direct purchase of undiscounted WLD tokens, 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 defense of privacy controversy at Consensus 2025 has further boosted investor confidence. The team emphasized 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.
Exploring the U.S. Market Layout and Technological InnovationOne
of the core goals of this venture capital to purchase tokens 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 Visa's World App debit card project and Match Group's age-verification pilot on Tinder, 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.