A massive token unlock scheduled for late July could make things worse.
Thailand authorities raided an iris-scanning site tied to Sam Altman’s World project last October. That was trouble enough.
Now the foundation behind the biometric identity platform is selling its own token at a fraction of what investors paid less than a year ago — and the market is not taking it well.
World Foundation disclosed Saturday that its token issuance arm, World Assets, completed an over-the-counter sale of WLD tokens worth $65 million, spread across four buyers over the past week.
The first batch settled on March 20. Based on an average sale price of roughly $0.27 per token, the deal involved around 239 million WLD changing hands.
A 76% Drop From Last Year’s Deal Price
The numbers tell the story. In May 2024, World raised $135 million at approximately $1.13 per token from backers including Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto.
1/ World Assets, Ltd. has now closed a series of OTC sales for a total of $65,000,000 with four counterparties over the past week, the first of which settled on March 20, 2026.
— World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
This latest sale went out the door at $0.27 — a 76% drop from that round. The foundation said the proceeds will fund core operations, research and development, orb manufacturing, and ecosystem work.
2/ The sale was conducted at an average price of ~$0.2719/WLD. $25,000,000 worth of the tokens sold are subject to a 6-month lockup period.
— World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
Not all the tokens sold are locked up. Of the $65 million total, only $25 million worth carry a six-month lockup period. The rest were immediately available to trade, meaning buyers could move those tokens on the open market right away.
3/ This sale funds the project’s core operations and activities, R&D, orb manufacturing, ecosystem development, and more.
— World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
WLD briefly touched an all-time low of $0.24 after the sale was announced before clawing back to around $0.27. At that price, the token sits roughly 97% below its peak of $11.82 recorded in March 2024.
According to Coingecko data, WLD was trading at $0.2725 as of the latest reading, up just 0.27% over a 24-hour period.
Another Wave Of Supply Approaching
The pain may not be over. Data from DefiLlama shows a major community token unlock is set for July 23, covering about 52% of WLD’s total supply of 10 billion tokens. That kind of release typically adds selling pressure — and it arrives at a time when the token is already near its lowest point ever.
World’s regulatory problems have also followed the project across borders. Authorities in Indonesia suspended World ID registration over compliance concerns. Brazil banned the platform’s eye-scanning operation. Germany opened its own inquiry. Kenya pushed back hard on data privacy grounds.
Regulatory Heat Keeps Building
The Thailand raid added another entry to that list. Officials there, working through the Securities and Exchange Commission alongside the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, said the iris-scanning service may have operated without the required license. Arrests were made and an investigation remains open.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
* The content presented above, whether from a third party or not, is considered as general advice only. This article should not be construed as containing investment advice, investment recommendations, an offer of or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments.
