A massive token unlock planned for late July could make matters worse.
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Thai authorities raided an iris testing site linked to Sam Altman’s World project last October. It was already problematic enough.
Now the foundation behind the biometric identity platform is selling its own token for a fraction of what investors paid less than a year ago – and the market isn’t taking it well.
The World Foundation revealed on Saturday that its token issuance arm, World Assets, had completed an over-the-counter sale of WLD tokens worth $65 million, split among four buyers over the past week.
The first batch was paid on March 20. Based on an average sale price of approximately $0.27 per token, the deal involved a change of hands of approximately 239 million WLD.
A drop of 76% compared to last year’s sale price
The numbers tell the story. In May 2024, World raised $135 million at around $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 totaling $65,000,000 with four counterparties over the past week, the first of which was settled on March 20, 2026.
– World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
This latest sale ended at $0.27, down 76% from this cycle. The foundation said profits will be used to fund core operations, research and development, orb manufacturing, and ecosystem work.
2/ The sale took place at an average price of ~$0.2719/WLD. Tokens sold worth $25,000,000 are subject to a 6-month lock-up period.
– World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
Not all tokens sold are locked. Of the total $65 million, only $25 million comes with a six-month lock-in period. The rest were immediately available for trading, meaning buyers could immediately move these tokens on the open market.
3/ This sale funds the project’s core operations and activities, R&D, orb manufacturing, ecosystem development, and much more.
– World Foundation (@worldcoinfnd) March 28, 2026
WLD briefly touched an all-time low of $0.24 after the sell-off was announced before returning to around $0.27. At this price, the token is approximately 97% below its March 2024 high of $11.82.
According to data from Coingecko, WLD was trading at $0.2725 as of last digit, up just 0.27% over a 24-hour period.
Another wave of offers is approaching
The pain may not be over. Data from DefiLlama shows that a major community token unlock is planned for July 23, covering approximately 52% of WLD’s total 10 billion token supply. This type of release usually adds selling pressure – and comes at a time when the token is already near its lowest point on record.
Global regulatory concerns have also followed the project across borders. Indonesian authorities have suspended World ID’s registration due to compliance concerns. Brazil has banned the platform’s eye scanning operations. Germany has opened its own investigation. Kenya reacted strongly over data privacy concerns.
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Regulatory heat continues to grow
The Thai raid added another entry to this list. Local officials, working through the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, said the iris scanning service could have operated without the required license. Arrests have been made and an investigation remains open.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
