World, the project co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania, has launched World ID for banking and finance, a suite of tools that lets financial institutions confirm a real person is behind transactions, trades and customer requests. Bain Capital, OpenExchange, Outtake, Pantera Capital and VanEck Funds are initial design partners. The tools rely on three cryptographic proofs: Proof of Human, via a one-time visit to an Orb device; Proof of Presence, a phone selfie liveness check; and Proof of Attributes, which confirms details such as age from a government ID. Banks could use them to approve ACH and wire transfers or recover accounts without storing personal data. World cited Deloitte's forecast that AI-enabled fraud losses in the US could reach $40 billion by 2027, up from $12.3 billion in 2023. More than 18 million people hold a Proof of Human ID, and the World Foundation raised $52.5 million this year. Regulators in several countries have pushed back on World's iris scanning.

World, the iris-scanning company co-founded by OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman, said Zoom and several big financial firms, including Bain Capital and VanEck Funds, are adopting its "proof of humanity" technology to keep out malicious bots and deepfakes. On Zoom calls, people who pass World ID checks will appear with a blue badge showing they are human and who they claim to be. Companies can decide when to require proof, and reserve it for sensitive calls. The system relies on an orb device, about the size of a football, that scans irises. World says its cryptography creates no central database and the company cannot read the encrypted identities. Users verify through a phone app that checks against the encrypted record. The financial firms will keep orbs in their offices to enrol employees.

World Network, the Sam Altman-backed digital identity project formerly known as Worldcoin, has raised $52.5 million in fresh funding. The protocol uses custom hardware called an Orb to verify unique individuals and distinguish humans from AI bots without compromising privacy. The investment arrives as World shifts from building to scaling utility. The network now has over 39 million members, with more than 18 million humans verified by an Orb. Since launch, it has processed over 475 million World ID proofs. In April, World unveiled a major upgrade positioning its system as "full-stack proof of human" infrastructure for consumers, enterprises, and AI agents.