WorldCoin, now rebranded simply as World, has been making headlines recently. The project, known for its digital currency and its signature Orbs that scan users' irises to generate a unique digital identity, has sparked both intrigue and criticism. At the core of its vision is the creation of World ID, a universal digital identifier aimed at verifying real human users online. Backed by prominent figures in Silicon Valley, the initiative has garnered significant support—but also considerable controversy. In an era marked by rampant misinformation, state-sponsored propaganda, and increasingly convincing AI-generated content, establishing trust and verifying authentic digital identities has become an urgent and complex challenge for society at large.
Addressing the challenge of digital identity was a foundational hurdle that autonomous digital currencies, those designed to operate without third party intervention, needed to overcome. While earlier attempts like DigiCash/eCash explored this space, they ultimately failed due to their reliance on centralized intermediaries. It wasn’t until the advent of Bitcoin that this issue was solved, giving rise to the first autonomous cryptocurrency.
PoW Solved the Digital Identity Problem
In his seminal white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the concept of “one-CPU-one-vote”, describing how Bitcoin’s Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism inherently addressed the identity problem. Rather than relying on account-based identity, Bitcoin used computational cost as a proxy for trust, making it expensive to generate multiple fake identities. This property, known as Sybil resistance, ensures that no actor can easily gain disproportionate influence by creating numerous identities.
While it is still technically possible for a single entity to control multiple miners, as seen in the rise of industrial-scale mining operations, executing a 51% attack, which would allow an entity to control the network, requires an enormous amount of capital. At the current network hash rate of approximately 800 EH/s, a 51% attack would require deploying mining hardware on the scale that few entities could marshal. Using current-generation machines like the Antminer S21 XP, the estimated capital investment needed would exceed $12.3 billion, making such an attack economically prohibitive.
Digital Identities Remains an Unsolved Problem
Outside the realm of cryptocurrencies, where PoW operates on a “one-CPU-one-vote” model and Proof of Stake (PoS) operates as “one-coin-one-vote,” the challenge of establishing unique digital identities remains a critical and unresolved issue, one that increasingly threatens the social fabric. Over the years, various attempts have been made to tackle this problem. In 2014, Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures documented a wave of identity-focused initiatives, including Namecoin and Onename, which eventually evolved into Blockstack, the developer behind the Stacks (STX) cryptocurrency.
Despite these attempts, the core problem remains unsolved. Now, World has entered the arena with its latest attempt to establish a global digital identity system, offering users cryptocurrency as an enticement to register their identity. Whether it will succeed is still unknown. What is clear, however, is that the need for a solution is becoming increasingly urgent. As AI-generated content, deepfakes, and misinformation proliferate, the absence of reliable unique digital identities is compounding societal fragmentation.
The Identity Vacuum
Attempts to solve the digital identity crisis have largely come from two directions: economically incentivized initiatives like World, and user-led efforts. Yet, despite the growing urgency, there has been virtually no meaningful top-down initiative to address systemic issues. In fact, the One Big Beautiful Bill currently under consideration in the House appears to move in the opposite direction. It stipulates a 10-year moratorium on state-level AI regulation while offering no substantive federal framework.
This absence of coordinated oversight leaves a critical gap, especially with digital identities. Satoshi recognized and solved this problem for Bitcoin. Will society do the same?
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