Worldcoin has just unveiled its latest innovation, the Orb Mini — a compact, mobile device built to verify that users online are real humans and not bots. Launched at the “At Last” event in San Francisco, the Orb Mini is designed to meet a growing demand: establishing digital identity in a world increasingly shaped by AI-generated content.
Developed by Tools for Humanity, the company co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and engineer Alex Blania, the Orb Mini scans users’ irises to create a unique blockchain ID. This biometric verification process offers a fast, secure, and decentralized method of proving personhood online.
A Scalable Vision for Human Verification
Blania and Altman’s vision for Worldcoin — originally branded as World — was rooted in a pressing challenge: how to preserve trust in human identity amid the rapid growth of artificial intelligence. With the Orb Mini, that vision now fits in the palm of your hand.
The new device is a more portable version of the original Worldcoin Orb, packing the same powerful technology into a smartphone-sized form. Designed by Chief Device Officer Rich Heley, a former Apple executive, in collaboration with ex-Apple designer Thomas Meyerhoff, the Orb Mini features a sleek interface with two prominent iris scanners on the front. It’s built to be intuitive, fast, and easily deployable around the world.
“Our goal is simple but ambitious,” Blania said at the event. “To make it frictionless for people to prove they’re human — no passwords, no guesswork, just a scan.”
Backed by Blockchain Leaders, Ready for Scale
With $194 million in funding across three rounds, Tools for Humanity has won the backing of some of the most influential investors in Web3. Supporters include Blockchain Capital, a16z Crypto, Bain Capital Crypto, and Distributed Global — all of whom have a history of investing in decentralized technologies.
Now, Tools for Humanity is launching the World Network in the United States, opening locations in cities such as Austin, Atlanta, and soon Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, and San Francisco. These storefronts will allow users to scan their irises using either the original Orb or the new Orb Mini.
To date, over 26 million people have registered with Worldcoin, with 12 million completing verification, mainly in Latin America and Asia. This U.S. rollout marks a major step in bringing biometric human verification to Western markets.
Not Just a Scanner: Building a Digital Identity Ecosystem
While the Orb Mini’s primary purpose is to verify human identity, its potential extends beyond that. At the launch, Blania hinted at additional functionalities in development — including transforming the Orb Mini into a mobile point-of-sale (POS) system.
Even more intriguing, Tools for Humanity may soon license its iris-scanning tech to third-party hardware manufacturers. This could pave the way for seamless integration of human verification into a broad range of devices and services — from banking and education to gaming and healthcare.
The company hasn’t confirmed whether the Orb Mini will integrate artificial intelligence or collaborate directly with OpenAI, Altman’s other major venture. However, given their shared leadership, future collaboration seems likely.
Solving the AI Trust Crisis
The launch of the Orb Mini comes at a critical time. With generative AI becoming more powerful and bots increasingly common online, proving that you are human is more difficult — and more important — than ever.
Tools for Humanity’s mission to build scalable, privacy-preserving systems for identity verification speaks directly to this challenge. By giving people a simple, secure way to verify their identity without centralized control, the Orb Mini could play a key role in restoring trust online.
Whether it’s used to log into services, access exclusive content, or prevent bot abuse, the Orb Mini signals a future where being human is not just assumed — it’s proven.
