Can Worldcoin Fix The Internet's 99% Bot Problem? | Co-Founder Alex Blania

Bankless

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Tech News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The bots are winning. AI-generated spam, fake profiles, and deepfakes are turning the internet into a digital hall of mirrors. But what if there were a way to prove you're human, without sacrificing privacy? Worldcoin Co-Founder Alex Blania returns to Bankless to share a bold vision for addressing the online identity crisis. From 14 million users already “Orbed” to new integrations with dating apps and DeFi protocols, Worldcoin is evolving rapidly and facing significant questions. What happens when governments come knocking? And why does Alex think we’re heading toward internet-native citizenship? Whether you're curious about AI-proof identity or sceptical of eyeball scanning orbs, this conversation cuts deep. ------ 🎬 DEBRIEF | Ryan & David Unpacking the Episode: https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-can-worldcoin-fix-the-internets-99-bot-problem-co-founder-alex-blania ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🟠BINANCE | THE WORLDS #1 CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/binance 🦎COINGECKO API | REAL-TIME CRYPTO PRICE & MARKET DATA https://bankless.cc/coingecko ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:15 The Bot Problem 9:28 Orb Scaling Limiters 15:40 Miniapps & Orb Use Cases 23:31 World ID Integration Plans 31:02 Incentives to Get Orbed 35:55 Civil Resistance & Sybil Attacks 40:14 Privacy Concerns: Will You Get Tracked? 46:26 Global Regulation 54:56 The Future: Internet Citizenship 58:42 Closing Thoughts ------ RESOURCES Alex Blania https://x.com/alexblania World App https://worldcoin.org/world-app ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think the general headline is everything that we believe will work as a proof of human.
0:03.9	We will also build ourselves and integrate into World ID.
0:06.6	So we're not like orb maxis or anything.
0:08.8	It's like if it really is about getting to scale and about being inclusive and about working
0:14.3	in a world of increasing powerful AI, I think the orb is actually the only way to get there.
0:22.6	Alex Blania is the co-founder of WorldCoin.
0:24.8	Alex, welcome back to Bankless.
0:26.3	Thanks for having me.
0:27.1	I'm excited to talk.
0:28.0	It's been two years.
0:29.0	It has been two years, almost exactly two years since we released an episode with you
0:32.2	and Sam Altman.
0:33.1	And I wanted to start by maybe asking you a question about this.
0:36.7	Because two years later, I feel like
0:39.9	my social media experience hasn't gotten better.
0:42.3	It's actually gotten worse.
0:43.9	Like the whole problem that you were talking about, which is like you won't be able to
0:47.4	tell who's a human and who's a bot online, you were right about that.
0:52.3	We're here.
0:53.0	Yeah.
0:53.4	And it's gotten like really bad.
0:55.9	And I feel like AI is making all of this so much worse.
	...

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