Sam Altman-Backed World Turns 3, Says Tinder Matches And Concert Tickets Now Require Proof You're Human

Co-founded by OpenAI (OPEAZZX) CEO Sam Altman, World (WLD) celebrated its third anniversary on Friday, saying its proof-of-human verification was now showing up in Tinder matches, Zoom meetings and concert ticket sales as the network hit more than 39 million users worldwide.The identity verification network said it had started Phase 3 of its roadmap, moving from building the network to scaling World ID across consumer platforms, enterprises and AI agents. World framed the rapid rise of AI agents as the key demand driver, warning that without proof-of-human infrastructure, deepfakes and synthetic identities pose growing threats to sectors from dating to digital advertising.World ID allows users to prove they are a unique human with a one-time scan of the Orb, without revealing their identity, and has already been integrated with Zoom, Tinder, DocuSign, Okta, and Vercel. Tinder is owned by Match Group (MTCH).$52.5 Million Token SaleThe anniversary was also celebrated alongside a $52.5 million fundraise through a WLD token sale, with tokens purchased being locked for one year. According to a press release, Pantera Capital led the first close with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Eightco Holdings (ORBS), Selini Capital, and Susquehanna Crypto.The money will help grow World ID for organizations, consumers, and AI agents globally. The fundraising brought total project funding to about $492.5 million, which includes $135 million from a token sale led by Andreessen Horowitz in May 2025.As the development of AI speeds up, the need for proof of human has become acutely clear, said Pantera Capital General Partner Cosmo Jiang.Despite the announcements,  was down over 7% over the past 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around WLD remained in the 'neutral' zone, while chatter dropped to 'low' from ‘normal’ levels over the past day.What's NextThe press release also announced the launch of World ID 4.0, which it called “enterprise-ready infrastructure” that enables developers to build additional credentials using zero-knowledge proofs. Since launch, the network has verified more than 18 million people with Orb devices and issued more than 475 million World ID proofs.