EASTON, Pa., July 27, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) said it participated in World Foundation’s $52.5 million funding round and provided an update on its treasury holdings across digital assets and strategic investments in private technology companies.

The update places Eightco’s stated treasury strategy at the intersection of publicly traded equity, private-company exposure, and digital assets. Because several holdings are either held through special purpose vehicles or priced by reference to digital asset markets, the company’s reported treasury value depends on both private investment marks and crypto asset prices.

The company said its treasury composition as of July 26, 2026, included indirect exposure to $90 million of OpenAI equity, $18 million of Beast Industries equity, 16,278 Ethereum (ETH), nearly 302 million Worldcoin (WLD), and $142 million in cash and equivalents. Eightco said the holdings totaled approximately $391 million.

Eightco also said OpenAI recently announced that it had submitted a confidential S-1, positioning the company for a potential future initial public offering. Eightco said its portfolio provides indirect exposure to private companies including OpenAI and Beast Industries.

On July 24, 2026, World Foundation announced a $52.5 million funding round led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto, and additional investors. World Foundation also marked the three-year anniversary of its production launch. According to the announcement, more than 39 million people have joined World Network, more than 18 million humans have been verified by an Orb, and the network has used more than 475 million World ID proofs since launch.

As of July 26, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. ET, Eightco said ORBS’ holdings included a $90 million investment, held indirectly through SPVs, in OpenAI; an $18 million funded investment in Beast Industries; a $1 million investment in Mythical Games; 301,971,219 Worldcoin (WLD) at $0.36 per WLD, per Coinbase; 16,278 Ethereum (ETH); and approximately $142 million in total cash and stablecoins. The company said total holdings were approximately $391 million.

“Clearly, the world is getting close to very powerful AI,” Sam Altman said recently. “We care more about humans than we care about AI. And we are so hardwired to care about people that I'm not afraid for the future as long as we can tell. World ID is our effort at that, and it's been amazing to see the progress over the last year as people have adopted this and figured out how to integrate this into a new world.”

“The reduction in the WLD token issuance, which started on July 24, cuts incremental supply by half. This should substantially improve the net supply/demand balance for WLD and thus, supports the argument for improved risk/reward in prices,” said Tom Lee, Board Member of Eightco (ORBS).

Headlines cited by Eightco

ORBS management said it believes the company’s treasury portfolio includes components it views as important to the future AI and digital financial system. The company cited several headlines from the week.

On July 21, asset manager Grayscale was reported to have filed with the SEC to launch the first U.S. ETF tied to Worldcoin, according to Decrypt.

On July 21, OpenAI announced the launch of the ChatGPT for small businesses program, an initiative designed to help small businesses become more productive and scale their businesses with ChatGPT, according to OpenAI.

Also on July 21, Franklin Templeton Digital Assets published a white paper authored by Sandy Kaul titled “Agentic AI—The Killer Use Case for Blockchain and Crypto,” which suggested that blockchains will facilitate machine-to-machine transactions and will be critical to deploying widespread agentic AI services, according to the white paper. Eightco said this was consistent with its conviction that WorldID sits at the center of the interaction.

On July 22, OpenAI was reported to be planning a data center in Georgia with 3.2 gigawatts of power, to be delivered in phases from 2028 to 2032, according to Axios.

On July 24, 2026, World’s token issuance schedule reached a milestone. As described in the original World whitepaper, the network’s largest three-year token unlock period concluded, reducing the number of WLD entering circulation each day by approximately 43%, from about 5.1 million tokens to about 2.9 million. Eightco said ORBS currently holds 301,971,219 WLD, representing approximately 8% of circulating supply and the largest publicly disclosed WLD position in the world. WLD will continue to enter circulation, but at roughly half the previous daily rate, which the company said materially slows overall supply growth, according to World.

Eightco’s stated exposure to key trends

Eightco said it is built around three trends the company expects to shape the next decade of innovation: artificial intelligence, digital identity, and the creator economy. Its positions in those areas include an indirect investment in OpenAI, representing 23% of ORBS’ treasury holdings; Worldcoin, representing 28%; and Beast Industries, representing 5%.

Those percentages show that Eightco’s reported holdings are concentrated in a small number of themes rather than spread across a broad operating portfolio. The company’s own risk disclosure notes that it is not a controlling stockholder of OpenAI or Beast Industries and that its WLD and ETH positions are exposed to digital asset volatility.

Artificial intelligence: OpenAI

Eightco has invested approximately $90 million in special purpose vehicles with exposure to equity interests in the parent company of OpenAI. The company said that position represents approximately 23% of treasury assets and is one of the highest disclosed concentrations of any listed vehicle.

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s consumer application, is the No. 1 consumer AI app worldwide, according to Sensor Tower. Eightco said ChatGPT crossed 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, making it the fastest-scaling consumer technology in history, citing UBS via Reuters.

Digital identity: WLD token

Eightco said it holds nearly 302 million WLD, equal to approximately 8% of circulating supply. The company described the position as the largest publicly disclosed institutional position globally and said it accounts for approximately 28% of Eightco’s treasury assets.

Worldcoin is the native token of World, a global Proof of Human network built by Tools for Humanity, which was co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania, and stewarded by the World Foundation. The network’s Orb devices issue a privacy-preserving World ID designed to verify that a user is a unique human and not an AI agent.

Under World’s announced business model, applications pay per-verification fees while end-user verification remains free. Credential issuers and the World protocol both monetize verified-human authentication under that model. World identifies a $6.35 trillion combined addressable revenue opportunity across 13 industries, including banking, e-commerce, gaming, social media, and agentic AI, according to Tools for Humanity.

Creator economy: Beast Industries

Eightco has invested $18 million in Beast Industries equity, representing approximately 5% of treasury assets.

Beast Industries operates what Eightco described as one of the largest direct-to-consumer reach footprints in the world, with a combined follower base of more than 500 million across platforms. The business is anchored by MrBeast, described by Eightco as the most-watched person on YouTube globally. The company said that as AI commoditizes content production, distribution and audience trust become increasingly scarce assets.

About Eightco Holdings Inc.

Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) is a publicly traded company executing what it describes as a first-of-its-kind Worldcoin (WLD) treasury strategy. The company says it provides investors with single-ticker indirect exposure to three defining trends of this cycle: artificial intelligence through its indirect investment in OpenAI; digital identity through its position as the largest public holder of WLD and the Proof of Human protocol; and the creator economy through its equity stake in MrBeast’s Beast Industries.

Eightco said it is backed by institutional investors including Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (NYSE: BMNR), MOZAYYX, World Foundation, CoinFund, Discovery Capital Management, FalconX, Payward/Kraken, Pantera, and GSR. The company said it is building the infrastructure layer for human verification in the agentic AI era.

For more information, Eightco lists its X account as @iamhuman_orbs and its website as 8co.holdings.

Frequently asked questions from Eightco

What is ORBS stock?

Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) is a publicly traded company on Nasdaq. ORBS provides indirect exposure to OpenAI and Beast Industries.

Who owns the most Worldcoin (WLD)?

Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS) said it holds nearly 302 million WLD, approximately 8% of circulating supply and the largest publicly disclosed institutional position globally.

What is Proof of Human?

Proof of Human is cryptographic verification that a user is a unique, living person and not a bot or AI agent. Eightco described it as foundational infrastructure for social networks, banking, agentic commerce, and any system requiring “one person, one account” in the agentic AI era.

How does Eightco (ORBS) relate to Proof of Human?

Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS) said it is the largest publicly disclosed institutional holder of Worldcoin (WLD), the token powering World’s Proof of Human network.

Who is the CEO of Eightco Holdings?

Kevin O’Donnell is the CEO of Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS). The company’s board includes Tom Lee, Managing Partner and Head of Research at Fundstrat and Chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR). Brett Winton, Chief Futurist at ARK Invest, serves as an advisor to the board.

Forward-looking statements

The press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Eightco said all statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including statements regarding the company’s expectations that artificial intelligence, digital identity, and the creator economy will shape the next decade of innovation; its belief that its treasury portfolio holds components for the future AI and digital financial system; the anticipated improvement in WLD net supply/demand balance and risk/reward in prices following the reduction in token issuance; statements that blockchains will facilitate machine-to-machine transactions and be critical to the deployment of widespread agentic AI services; the company’s conviction that WorldID sits at the center of the interaction between AI and blockchain; World’s addressable revenue opportunity of $6.35 trillion across banking, e-commerce, gaming, social media, and agentic AI; the expected reduction in WLD token issuance following July 24, 2026, including the decline from approximately 5.1 million tokens to approximately 2.9 million tokens daily; and the statement that the company holds the largest publicly disclosed WLD position globally.

Eightco said forward-looking statements also include statements that distribution and audience trust become increasingly scarce assets as AI commoditizes content production; that the company is building the infrastructure layer for human verification in the agentic AI era; that it provides indirect exposure to defining trends through its investments in OpenAI, WLD, and Beast Industries; that OpenAI submitted a confidential S-1, setting itself up for a potential future initial public offering; and statements regarding future phases of OpenAI’s data center project in Georgia from 2028 to 2032.

The company said words such as “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “expand,” “advance,” “develop,” “believes,” “guidance,” “target,” “may,” “remain,” “project,” “outlook,” “intend,” “estimate,” “could,” “should,” “positioned,” “view,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all such statements contain those terms. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and assumptions, are subject to risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees of future performance.

Actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statement because of factors including the company’s inability to direct the management or operations of private businesses where it is not a controlling stockholder, including OpenAI and Beast Industries; risk of loss or markdown on strategic investments, including its indirect OpenAI equity position held through special purpose vehicles, its WLD position, and its Beast Industries equity position; its ability to maintain compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements; unexpected costs, charges, or expenses that reduce capital resources or delay capital deployment; inability to raise adequate capital to fund or scale business operations or strategic investments; volatility in digital asset prices, including WLD and ETH; regulatory changes, future legislation, and rulemaking affecting digital assets, artificial intelligence adoption, or biometric data collection; risks tied to development, adoption, and market acceptance of Proof-of-Human technology and the World network; uncertainty regarding the pace and trajectory of agentic AI deployment in enterprise and consumer applications; uncertainty regarding OpenAI’s product roadmap, business model developments, and the timing or success of any IPO; risks related to Beast Industries’ ability to achieve growth projections; competition in digital identity and AI infrastructure markets; reliance on third-party sources for valuation of certain investments; uncertainty regarding MrBeast’s continued success and Beast Industries’ creator-driven business model; concentrated positions in certain digital assets and private company investments; shifting public and governmental positions on digital assets or AI-related industries; risks that WLD supply dynamics may not produce anticipated market effects; risks related to World Foundation’s funding, development, and ability to scale its network and business model; and risks associated with the timing and completion of OpenAI’s planned data center projects.

Eightco cautioned readers not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. It directed readers to its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including risk factors and other disclosures in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 15, 2026, and other publicly available SEC filings. The company said all information in the press release was as of the release date and that it undertakes no duty to update the information or publicly announce revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or changes in expectations.

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