World off-chain sold $65 million worth of tokens; the real test will be in July when unlocking occurs.

World Network Raises $65M OTC, Not Dumping on the Secondary Market

World Foundation (the World/Worldcoin-related nonprofit organization behind World) sold about 239 million WLD tokens OTC to four buyers, raising a total of about $65 million, at an average price of roughly 0.2719 per token. Settlement began in stages starting March 20, 2026, and the official announcement came only on March 28.

By going OTC instead of using an exchange, the project team avoided direct sell-pressure on the order book. Of that, about $25 million worth of coins are locked for 6 months, and the rest is transferred via on-chain, traceable multi-sig wallets. The foundation did not say who the buyers were or disclose the valuation.

The money will be used to run World Network. This network verifies that you are a real person using iris scanning. It currently has nearly 18 million verified users across more than 160 countries.

Down 97% from the peak—more than half the tokens unlock in July

After the news broke, WLD jumped 4.39% in the short term to $0.2744, then slipped back to around $0.27. The weekly decline is still 13.5%. During the day, it briefly hit a low of $0.24—down 97% from the March 2024 high of $11.82. Current FDV is about $2.74 billion, with 3.1 billion circulating tokens; total supply is 10 billion.

The bigger supply pressure is coming later: on July 23, 2026, about 52.5% of the total supply will unlock, creating substantial potential sell pressure.

Regulation hasn’t let up either. Thailand recently carried out surprise inspections of iris collection sites; Indonesia, Germany, Kenya, and Brazil are all investigating licensing compliance and issues related to biometric data handling. Even so, the project is still expanding: wallet addresses are at 1.34 million, and verification volume continues to rise.

How harsh is the discount? In May 2025’s pricing round, it was set at $1.13, raising $135 million (backers include a16z, Bain Capital Crypto, etc.). This time at $0.27, it’s about 76% lower than the previous round. Eightco Holdings is the largest publicly disclosed position holder, with 277 million tokens.

How the money will be spent (no breakdown provided):

• Paying salaries and daily operations
• System R&D
• Expanding Orb (iris scanners)
• Continuing global expansion

Although the price is down, the network is still growing: World ID has verified nearly 18 million unique users, World App has 39 million users, and 948 active Orbs. Last week saw more than 60,000 new accounts and more than 16,000 new verifications.

WLD spot market cap is about $852 million. Trading is active, with an activity-to-market-cap ratio of about 35.91%. From a technical perspective: support is $0.25–$0.26, resistance is $0.28–0.29, and the overall trend is still downward.

This project was founded in 2019 by Sam Altman, Alex Blania, and Max Novendstern. The core idea is to use biometrics plus cryptography to prove you’re a real person. OTC lets the project raise funds without dumping on the market, but the sell pressure after the lock-up expires is basically a foregone conclusion.

My take: Institutions are still betting on biometric crypto infrastructure, but with regulatory uncertainty plus supply-unlock pressure, the token price is unlikely to improve in the short term.

Conclusion: For this track, it’s still early. The real advantage belongs to those who keep building despite regulatory and supply pressure. Before the big unlock in July, short-term trading and passive holding aren’t good choices.