Eightco Says Holdings Total About $391 Million After Joining World Foundation’s $52.5 Million Round
Key Takeaways
- •Eightco reported approximately $391 million in holdings, including $90 million of indirect OpenAI exposure, $18 million in Beast Industries equity, 16,278 ETH, 301,971,219 WLD and about $142 million in cash and stablecoins.
- •Eightco participated in World Foundation’s $52.5 million funding round, which was led by Pantera Capital and included several crypto-focused investors.
- •World Network has surpassed 39 million users, more than 18 million Orb-verified humans and over 475 million World ID proofs since launch, according to Eightco.
- •World’s daily WLD issuance fell by about 43% on July 24, 2026, from roughly 5.1 million tokens to about 2.9 million after its largest three-year unlock period ended.
- •Eightco said its WLD holdings represent about 8% of circulating supply and constitute the largest publicly disclosed WLD position globally.
EASTON, Pa. — Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) said on July 27, 2026, that its holdings totaled approximately $391 million as of July 26, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. ET, including indirect exposure to OpenAI, equity in Beast Industries, Ethereum, Worldcoin and cash and equivalents.
The company said its treasury composition included a $90 million investment in OpenAI equity held indirectly through special purpose vehicles, an $18 million funded investment in Beast Industries, a $1 million investment in Mythical Games, 301,971,219 Worldcoin (WLD) valued at $0.36 per WLD according to Coinbase, 16,278 Ethereum (ETH), and approximately $142 million in total cash and stablecoins. Because the portfolio combines cash, liquid cryptoassets and private-company interests held indirectly through special purpose vehicles, the reported total reflects both quoted market prices for tokens and valuation inputs for less liquid private investments.
Eightco also announced its participation in World Foundation’s $52.5 million funding round, which World Foundation announced on July 24, 2026. The round was led by Pantera Capital and included Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco, Selini Capital, Susquehanna Crypto and additional investors, according to the company.
World Foundation also marked the three-year anniversary of World Network’s launch into production. Eightco said 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. Those usage figures are central to Eightco’s framing of World as digital identity infrastructure rather than only a token project.
“Clearly, the world is getting close to very powerful AI,” Sam Altman said recently, according to Eightco’s release. “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.”
Tom Lee, a board member of Eightco, said the reduction in WLD token issuance began on July 24. “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,” Lee said.
Eightco said management believes the company’s treasury portfolio includes components it views as important to the future AI and digital financial system. The company cited several recent developments, including Grayscale’s July 21 filing with the SEC to launch the first U.S. ETF tied to Worldcoin, as reported by Decrypt.
Eightco also cited OpenAI’s July 21 announcement of a ChatGPT for small businesses program, an initiative aimed at helping small businesses use ChatGPT to improve productivity and scale their operations, according to OpenAI.
On the same date, Franklin Templeton Digital Assets published a white paper authored by Sandy Kaul titled “Agentic AI—The Killer Use Case for Blockchain and Crypto,” which said blockchains will facilitate machine-to-machine transactions and will be critical to the deployment of widespread agentic AI services. Eightco said that view is consistent with its conviction that WorldID sits at the center of the interaction between AI and blockchain. The cited white paper was referenced through an X post.
Eightco further pointed to a July 22 report that OpenAI plans to build a data center in Georgia with 3.2 gigawatts of power delivered in phases from 2028 to 2032, as reported by Axios.
On July 24, 2026, World’s token issuance schedule reached what Eightco described as a significant milestone. As outlined in the original World white paper, 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 WLD will continue to enter circulation at roughly half the previous daily rate, materially slowing the growth of overall supply, citing World.
Eightco said it currently holds 301,971,219 WLD, representing approximately 8% of circulating supply and the largest publicly disclosed WLD position in the world.
The company said it is structured around three themes it expects to shape the next decade of innovation: artificial intelligence, digital identity and the creator economy. Eightco said its exposure to those themes comes through its indirect investment in OpenAI, representing 23% of ORBS treasury holdings; Worldcoin, representing 28%; and Beast Industries, representing 5%.
In artificial intelligence, Eightco said it has invested approximately $90 million in special purpose vehicles with exposure to equity interests in OpenAI’s parent company. The position represents approximately 23% of treasury assets, which Eightco described as one of the highest disclosed concentrations of any listed vehicle. The company said ChatGPT is the No. 1 consumer AI app worldwide, citing Sensor Tower, and said ChatGPT crossed 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, citing UBS via Reuters. Eightco also said OpenAI recently announced that it submitted a confidential S-1, positioning the company for a potential future initial public offering.
In digital identity, Eightco said Worldcoin is the native token of World, a global Proof of Human network built by Tools for Humanity, co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania, and stewarded by World Foundation. The network’s Orb devices issue a privacy-preserving World ID intended to verify that a user is a unique human rather than an AI agent.
Under World’s announced business model, applications pay per-verification fees while end-user verification remains free, with both credential issuers and the World protocol monetizing verified-human authentication, according to the company’s cited announced business model. Eightco said World identifies a $6.35 trillion combined addressable revenue opportunity across 13 industries, including banking, e-commerce, gaming, social media and agentic AI, citing Tools for Humanity.
In the creator economy, Eightco said it has invested $18 million in Beast Industries equity, equal to approximately 5% of treasury assets. Beast Industries operates a direct-to-consumer reach footprint with more than 500 million combined followers across platforms, anchored by MrBeast, whom Eightco described 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.
Eightco Holdings Inc. describes itself as a publicly traded company executing a Worldcoin treasury strategy and providing single-ticker indirect exposure to artificial intelligence through its indirect OpenAI investment, digital identity through its WLD holdings and the Proof of Human protocol, and the creator economy through its stake in MrBeast’s Beast Industries. The company 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.
Eightco said its X account is @iamhuman_orbs and its website is 8co.holdings.
The company said Eightco Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ORBS) is publicly traded on Nasdaq and provides indirect exposure to OpenAI and Beast Industries. It said Kevin O’Donnell is the CEO of Eightco Holdings. The company’s board includes Tom Lee, managing partner and head of research at Fundstrat and chairman of Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), and Brett Winton, chief futurist at ARK Invest, serves as an adviser to the board.
Eightco said Proof of Human is cryptographic verification that a user is a unique, living person and not a bot or AI agent. The company described it as foundational infrastructure for social networks, banking, agentic commerce and systems requiring “one person, one account” in the agentic AI era.
The release included forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Eightco said statements other than historical facts may be forward-looking, including statements about its expectations for artificial intelligence, digital identity and the creator economy; its views on the components of its treasury portfolio; potential changes in WLD supply and demand; World’s addressable revenue opportunity; its publicly disclosed WLD position; OpenAI’s confidential S-1 and potential future IPO; and the planned phases of OpenAI’s Georgia data center project from 2028 to 2032.
Eightco said forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. The company cited risks including its inability to direct the management or operations of private businesses where it is not a controlling stockholder, including OpenAI and Beast Industries; possible losses or markdowns on strategic investments; compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements; unexpected costs; inability to raise sufficient capital; volatility in WLD and ETH prices; regulatory changes affecting digital assets, artificial intelligence or biometric data collection; risks related to Proof-of-Human technology and World Network adoption; uncertainty around agentic AI deployment; uncertainty around OpenAI’s product roadmap, business model and any IPO; risks related to Beast Industries’ growth; competition in digital identity and AI infrastructure; reliance on third-party valuation sources; uncertainty around MrBeast’s continued success and Beast Industries’ creator-driven model; concentration in certain digital assets and private company investments; shifting public and government positions on digital assets or AI-related industries; the possibility that WLD supply dynamics may not produce anticipated effects; risks related to World Foundation’s funding, development and scaling; and risks tied to the timing and completion of OpenAI’s planned data center projects.
Eightco said readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and referred investors to its filings with the U.S. 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 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.
