Sam Altman’s cryptocurrency-based identity verification project Worldcoin (CRYPTO: WLD) will now be known as “World.” Apart from the rebrand, the team also announced the launch of World Chain, an Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH)-based Layer-2 network.

What Happened: At an event on Thursday, OpenAI CEO Altman, along with the other executives tied to the project, unveiled several new developments.

The team outlined their plans for “Orb 2.0,” an enhanced version of the biometric imaging device that the project uses to collect people’s iris in exchange for WLD tokens.

The team also announced the introduction of World Chain, a blockchain that can be customized to meet its specific demands. With 15 million human data points, it was dubbed the “largest blockchain of humans on day one.”

See Also: If You Invested $1,000 In Bitcoin When Warren Buffett Called It ‘Rat Poison Squared,’ Here’s How Much You

Why It Matters: Sam Altman launched the Worldcoin project last year amid significant media attention.

However, the positive publicity soon transformed into negative publicity as concerns over personal data privacy surfaced. The project has been banned in Hong Kong, Kenya, and Spain.

The persistent scrutiny affected the performance of the WLD token, causing it to plunge 40% year-to-date.

Price Action: As of this writing, WLD was exchanging hands at $2.21, losing 1.95% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo courtesy: Worldcoin