The highly speculated Worldcoin (WLD) project generated a lot of buzz this week with the launch of their mainnet, revealing at the same time their tokenomics. A feature that attracted a number of eyeballs was their “iris-scanning Orb” that had been doling out beta tokens over last month. But this excitement was marred with some technical hitches as reporters from multiple countries ran into accessibility issues with the content part of the whitepaper on the website, prompting an investigation by the project’s representatives.
The site, when briefly accessible, offered some exclusive insights – the WLD supply would have a ceiling limit of 10 billion tokens maintained for 15 years. Post that, the network’s governance would have the authority to introduce an inflation rate of up to 1.5%, as well as have complete control over distribution of the newly minted tokens.
Initial circulation supply of WLD stands at 143 million tokens, a part of which is allocation for users verified during pre-launch and the rest for loans with a three-month expiration, However, these grants and loans are subject to local laws and regulations excluding the U.S. from the opportunity.
Major exchanges raced to list WLD, leading to significant price surges. Yet, the company claims the cost and complexity of development and launch of the network turned out to be more than anticipated, nudging them to increase the allocation of tokens to insiders, a move that could be seen as a potential red flag.
Also highlighted was that token shares for the community have been pre-minted, specifically 7.5 billion out of which 6 billion have been designated for users. But they come with a catch – they will be unlocked only over 15 years. While this might raise a few questions about the liquidity of these tokens, it does underline the company’s commitment to long term stability.
Interestingly, none of the tokens for users are held back – a stark contrast to tokens for the development team and investors that are locked up at launch and drip-fed over the following three years– a reassuring move to prevent significant market manipulation and volatility.
In spite of these reassurances, the final verdict seems to be hanging in the balance, swinging between the potential of the innovative technology and the accessibility squabbles casting a shadow over the launch. As always, one can only adopt a wait and watch approach to see if Worldcoin delivers on the promise of a futuristic blockchain world.
Source: Coindesk
