Inside Sam Altman’s eye-scanning crypto party

On the evening of April 30th, the hottest ticket in San Francisco was a buzzy crypto startup’s coming-out party at a warehouse-like complex on the northern edge of the city. It had all the makings of an event you’d only find near Silicon Valley: Anderson Paak, champagne, and a bunch of eye-scanning orbs. Onstage, Sam Altman and co-founder Alex Blania announced that the cryptocurrency Worldcoin is coming to the US for the first time, along with a bevy of orbs. The idea is straight out of science fiction. It may be too far-fetched to work, but given Altman’s involvement, it’s something worth paying attention to. [Image: World is opening stores in six cities across the US — Atalanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville and San Francisco. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/DSC01037_abcbfa.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] [Image: The iris-scanning orb is there to verify your humanness and will reward you with 16 WLD. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/DSC01114.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] [Image: The company also teased a smaller iris-scanning device called the Orb Mini. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/DSC01557.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] [Image: The startup says that, so far, its orbs have verified 12 million humans from over 100 countries on its Ethereum-based World Chain. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/DSC01569.jpg?quality=90&strip=all] [Image: The event ended with a live performance from Anderson Paak. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/DSC01583.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]