Report: Sam Altman’s World Network Discusses Adding Visa Card Functionality

World Network, the organization co-founded by Sam Altman that is part of the blockchain-based ecosystem that includes Worldcoin, is reportedly in talks with Visa to add on-chain card features to the organization’s self-custody cryptocurrency wallet.

The company that oversees the ecosystem, Tools for Humanity, sent a request-for-product form to card issuers, CoinDesk reported Monday (March 24), saying it had seen a copy of the form.

Reached by PYMNTS, World Network declined to comment on the report.

Neither Visa nor Tools for Humanity immediately replied to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

With the addition of Visa card functionality, World Network wallets would enable a range of applications, including stablecoin payments to merchants in the Visa network, according to the report.

World Network said March 6 that it beta launched a mini app called World Chat within its World App that enables users to chat with and send and receive crypto to and from other members of the World Network.

“[Because] World Chat is integrated seamlessly with the World App wallet, it means you can send and receive crypto to and from anyone in the world as easily as sending a picture,” the company said in a blog post.

On March 17, World Network said it partnered with gaming lifestyle product provider Razer to offer a secure, single sign-on “proof of human” technology called “Razer ID Verified by World ID” that is designed to verify human gamers and reduce the negative impact of bots on gaming.

“By giving gamers a secure and private way to verify that they’re human, gamers can look forward to fair play with real players in a trusted environment that improves the gaming experience for everyone,” World Network said in a blog post.

Worldcoin launched its digital wallet and identity technology in July 2023, with Altman and co-founder Alex Blania, CEO of Tools for Humanity, saying they aimed to provide a complete global financial platform, combat increasing income inequality and serve as a form of a universal basic income.

The endeavor aims to use eye-scanning technology dubbed “The Orb” to launch a worldwide identification system.