World App Adds Encrypted Chat, Stablecoin Yield and USD Accounts

Tools for Humanity is broadening its World platform beyond digital identity and crypto payments, adding encrypted messaging and financial services to its app as part of a push toward a super-app model.

The company, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, introduced an in-app messaging feature with end-to-end encryption that distinguishes between verified and unverified World ID accounts and enables users to send or request digital assets within chats.

According to an announcement, the application now supports third-party mini-apps, including prediction markets, games and financial tools, that run inside conversations. Tools for Humanity said it plans to add optional profile photo verification to help reduce impersonation and misuse.

The changes were released in San Francisco on Thursday by co-founders Altman and Alex Blania.

World App has also expanded stablecoin support to include USDC (USDC), EURC (EURC) and several Latin American peso-linked tokens. The release introduces yield products offering rates of up to 18% on Worldcoin (WLD) holdings and up to 15% on USDC, powered by the DeFi protocol Morpho, according to the company.

On the payments side, users in Argentina will be able to pay at more than one million merchants using QR codes.

The update also adds US dollar virtual accounts powered by Bridge in 18 countries, including the United States, Japan and several markets across Latin America, allowing users to receive wages, fund accounts from banks and spend USDC inside the app.

Tools for Humanity is a technology company that led the development of World Network and operates World App. World, formerly known as Worldcoin, is the digital identity and financial infrastructure project developed and operated by Tools for Humanity.

Related: Thai regulators raid alleged World iris scanning site, arrest multiple suspects

The evolution of super apps in the US

Tools for Humanity is joining a growing group of companies trying to build super-app ecosystems in Western countries. After buying Twitter in October 2022, Elon Musk posted that “buying Twitter” was the “accelerant to creating X, the everything app.” 

A super app is a single platform that combines social interaction, payments, commerce and financial services, a model popularized in Asia by services like WeChat. Today, several US companies are expanding crypto, payments and financial tools as they inch toward becoming their own versions of everything apps.

In October, Musk said X has rebuilt its messaging infrastructure into a standalone product called “X Chat,” describing it as a peer-to-peer, encrypted messaging service designed to compete with Telegram and WhatsApp.

Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Sam Altman in 2015 and has had an ongoing feud with the OpenAI CEO since Musk left the organization in 2018, said in December on the People by WTF podcast that he likes the idea of having a “unified app or website where you can do anything you want” and that he sees China’s WeChat as a model for X. 

“There’s no real WeChat outside of China,” he added.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase also signaled a push toward a super app by rebranding Coinbase Wallet as the “Base app,” combining trading, payments, social features, messaging and mini-apps.

In addition, the banking app owned by Walmart OnePay is expected to roll out cryptocurrency trading and custody later this year, beginning with support for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The app already offers banking, credit, loans and wireless plans and has positioned itself as a US-style super-app.

Magazine: Quantum attacking Bitcoin would be a waste of time: Kevin O’Leary