World Foundation has raised $52.5 million through a strategic sale of WLD tokens as it moves to expand World ID, its proof-of-human identity network. The nonprofit said all WLD tokens purchased in the transaction will be locked for one year.

The foundation said the capital will support wider enterprise adoption of World ID. According to the organization, more than 39 million users have joined World Network, and more than 18 million have completed Orb verification.

The fundraising comes as World continues its international expansion while facing regulatory scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions and renewed attention to WLD ownership concentration following Grayscale’s filing for a proposed Worldcoin exchange-traded fund.

World Foundation announced on Friday that it had completed the first close of a strategic WLD token sale, raising $52.5 million from a group of crypto-focused investors to support the development and deployment of its proof-of-human infrastructure. The nonprofit said every WLD token sold in the transaction will remain locked for one year.

Pantera Capital led the first close. Bain Capital Crypto, WLD treasury company Eightco Holdings (Nasdaq: ORBS), Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto and several other investors also participated. Although the foundation described the transaction as a “first close,” it did not confirm whether additional rounds are planned. A spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether further token sales would follow.

The foundation said the WLD purchased in the transaction is intended only for use within the World Network ecosystem, distinguishing the sale from equity financing. According to the organization, the tokens do not confer ownership in Tools for Humanity, the company that develops the project’s software and hardware, and do not grant rights to profits or investment returns.

World Foundation said the new funding will be used to expand World ID across enterprises, consumers and AI agents in international markets. The announcement comes as the organization says it is entering a new phase focused on increasing real-world use of its identity network after spending the past three years building the protocol.

World targets enterprise adoption

World Foundation said demand is increasing for technology that can distinguish real people from automated agents online as artificial intelligence systems become more capable. The problem has become more relevant for consumer platforms and business software providers as generative AI tools make it easier to create large volumes of synthetic content and automated accounts.

World enables users to verify that they are unique humans through a one-time Orb scan, which generates a World ID without revealing the user’s identity. According to the foundation, users keep their World ID on their own devices. The verification process uses advanced cryptography and anonymized multi-party computation that has been open-sourced to protect privacy, the organization said.

Pantera Capital General Partner Cosmo Jiang said the rapid development of AI has increased the need for proof-of-human technology as more businesses seek ways to verify online identities. He also said Pantera continues to support World’s long-term mission as enterprise adoption expands.

Alongside the fundraising announcement, the foundation highlighted the release of World ID 4.0, which it said is designed for enterprise-scale deployments. The latest version allows developers to create additional identity credentials using zero-knowledge proofs and integrate them into the broader World ID framework.

World Foundation said World ID has already been integrated with services including Zoom, DocuSign, Okta, Vercel and Tinder. It also said more than 39 million people have joined World Network, while more than 18 million users have completed Orb verification. Since launch, the network has processed more than 475 million World ID proofs, which are generated when users verify their identity while accessing supported applications or services.

The organization said applications including digital advertising, online dating, voting platforms, creative marketplaces and video communication services could face growing challenges from AI-generated content, synthetic identities and deepfakes without proof-of-human infrastructure.

Latest financing follows earlier WLD sale

The new financing follows another major fundraising completed earlier this year.

In May, World Foundation raised $135 million through a strategic WLD sale led by Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto. At the time, the foundation said the proceeds would be used to expand the World ID ecosystem, while investors purchased WLD tokens at market value. After that announcement, WLD rose roughly 10% in one day as trading volumes and derivatives activity increased sharply.

Including the latest fundraising, World Foundation and related entities have raised approximately $200 million through WLD token sales, according to the organization. Separately, Tools for Humanity has secured about $240 million in venture equity funding. Combined, the World ecosystem has raised roughly $492.5 million to date.

The structure of the WLD sales is significant because it gives the foundation additional resources without issuing equity in Tools for Humanity, while also placing more tokens with institutional crypto investors. The one-year lockup limits immediate transferability of the tokens sold in the latest transaction, but it does not resolve broader questions around circulating supply concentration identified in regulatory filings.

Expansion continues amid regulatory and governance scrutiny

World’s network has continued to grow, but regulatory scrutiny remains a recurring challenge for the project.

Authorities in Spain, Kenya, Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong and the Philippines have investigated, restricted, suspended or fined parts of World’s biometric identity verification operations over concerns related to privacy, user consent and data protection. The foundation said it continues to engage with regulators as the network expands into additional markets.

Those reviews are central to World’s expansion strategy because Orb verification relies on biometric enrollment, an area that privacy authorities often assess under stricter consent, data minimization and security standards than ordinary online account systems.

Governance and token ownership have also drawn attention following recent regulatory filings.

A registration statement submitted by Grayscale for its proposed spot Worldcoin ETF disclosed that the 100 largest wallets controlled about 90% of WLD’s circulating supply at the time of filing. The asset manager identified that ownership concentration as a material risk for prospective investors, while also stating that governance of the network continues to be substantially influenced by the World Foundation.

Grayscale’s filing also said World Chain currently relies on a centralized sequencer, while upgrade authority remains shared among entities associated with the World Foundation, Tools for Humanity and Optimism. The filing further said Orb devices continue to be manufactured and distributed primarily under the direction of Tools for Humanity.

The ETF proposal followed Nasdaq’s filing to list the proposed Grayscale Worldcoin ETF under the ticker GWLD. If approved by U.S. regulators, the trust would hold WLD directly and allow investors to gain exposure to the token through traditional brokerage accounts rather than by holding it directly.