Sam Altman's World project leans into super app functionality, adds crypto payments and chat

Sam Altman's World project may not have super app-level user numbers, but on Thursday, it added some of the characteristics that needed to be considered, namely chat and payment functionality.

And thanks to World's model of verifying user personhood in exchange for WLD tokens, people using the World Network will be able to tell if they are talking to — or sending money to — a "verified human."

"Conversations with verified World ID holders feature a blue chat bubble as well as a unique World ID gem in the upper right corner," the project spearheaded by chief developer Tools for Humanity said in a blog post. "Additionally, because World Chat is integrated seamlessly with the World App wallet, it means you can send and receive crypto to and from anyone in the world as easily as sending a picture."

World App's user numbers still pale in comparison to China's premiere super app WeChat or Altman nemesis Elon Musk's social media platform X, which appears poised to add peer-to-peer payments. However, World App's functionality clearly aims to broaden what is possible using the crypto app available on both Apple and Android devices.

Developers building on the World Network can "now incorporate World Chat into their Mini App, so that their users can easily invite and chat with their friends without ever leaving World App," the project said on Thursday.

World App currently has over 24 million users, more than 11 million of whom are verified humans, according to the project. Formerly known as Worldcoin, the project has attracted much attention due to the fact that Altman, wh0 is also famously CEO of OpenAI, is co-founder of Tools for Humanity. The project has sometimes been scrutinized for offering people free crypto in exchange for verifying their humanity by submitting to an eyeball scan.