San Francisco-based lender Divine Research has issued around 30,000 unbacked short-term crypto loans since December, using OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s iris-scanning platform World ID to verify borrowers.

Divine offers loans under $1,000 in the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, mainly to overseas borrowers underserved by traditional finance. It uses World ID to ensure users cannot open multiple accounts after defaulting.

“We’re loaning to average folks like high-school teachers, fruit vendors . . . basically anyone with access to the internet can get access to our funds,” Divine founder Diego Estevez told the Financial Times. “This is microfinance on steroids.”

Interest rates range from 20% to 30%, with a reported first-loan default rate of around 40%. “High interest rates compensate for these losses,” Estevez said, adding that free World tokens issued to borrowers can be “partially” reclaimed.

Related: Fees, collateral give DeFi edge as TradFi eyes crypto loans

Everyday investors can earn by funding high-risk crypto loans

Estevez said Divine’s lenders are everyday individuals seeking solid returns. “Anyone can provide liquidity. We’ve engineered the system such that after accounting for default rates and the [interest] rates on offer, providers will always make a profit.”

Divine is part of a growing group of high-risk crypto lenders capitalizing on renewed market momentum and political tailwinds, including support from former US President Donald Trump.

Another startup, 3Jane, recently raised $5.2 million from Paradigm and offers uncollateralized credit lines on Ethereum. Unlike Divine, 3Jane requires “verifiable proofs” of assets or income, but still no collateral.

3Jane plans to introduce AI agents that follow lending rules automatically, aiming to lower rates while enforcing repayment. Defaulted loans on its platform are sold to US debt collectors.

Other players like Wildcat cater to market makers and trading firms, offering undercollateralized loans with customizable terms. According to Wildcat adviser Evgeny Gaevoy, “In the event of a default, lenders co-ordinate directly among themselves to seek recourse.”

Related: Fintech firms will move to DeFi lending within 3 years

Crypto lending gains traction

Lending remains a small slice of the crypto market but attracts growing attention as institutional players reenter the space. Last week, reports revealed that JPMorgan Chase is looking into crypto-backed loans, planning to lend directly against crypto assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

However, the shadow of 2022 looms large, when major crypto lenders like Celsius and Genesis collapsed. Celsius’s CEO Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years for fraud, and Genesis settled a $2 billion lawsuit.

Magazine: Will Robinhood’s tokenized stocks REALLY take over the world? Pros and cons

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/divine-research-issues-unbacked-crypto-loans-using-sam-altmans-world-id/feed/ 0 49942 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/amds-new-ai-chips-just-got-a-huge-vote-of-confidence-from-sam-altman/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/amds-new-ai-chips-just-got-a-huge-vote-of-confidence-from-sam-altman/#respond Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:40:30 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/amds-new-ai-chips-just-got-a-huge-vote-of-confidence-from-sam-altman/

You can see it from the stock price: Not a lot of people are taking Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 3.35%) seriously right now as a competitor to its much larger rival, Nvidia. Even though many stocks involved in artificial intelligence (AI) have been hot buys, Advanced Micro Devices, also known as AMD, has been lagging behind.

Over the past 12 months, shares of AMD are down 20%, while Nvidia’s have risen by around 14% (as of June 23). And if you stretch out the time frame even further, the difference becomes wider.

AMD was a bit late in launching AI accelerators, but it may finally be closing the hardware performance gap and possibly even catching up to Nvidia. It recently announced its latest AI chips, and one person who is excited about them is none other than OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Image source: Getty Images.

Altman is a fan and will be a buyer of the new chips

AMD CEO Lisa Su unveiled the Instinct MI400 line of chips a few weeks ago. They’ll start shipping to customers next year. The chips can be tied together in a rack solution called “Helios,” which Su says “functions like a single, massive compute engine.” OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, will use the new chips, and Altman is excited about their potential. “It’s gonna be an amazing thing.”

The hope at AMD is that these new chips will take some market share from Nvidia, which has been far and away the leading AI chipmaker in the market thus far. With the MI400s earning a favorable endorsement from Altman, and considering AMD’s plans to price them aggressively, faster growth could be ahead for the chipmaker.

AMD’s growth rate has already been improving

In recent quarters, AMD’s results have been looking better and its growth rate has started to accelerate again.

AMD Operating Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts.

If its growth rate can remain strong, that could attract the types of AI investors who are specifically seeking out riskier stocks with lots of upside potential. AMD’s valuation of $210 billion is just a fraction of Nvidia’s $3.5 billion market cap. But while Nvidia has been a beast in the AI sphere, investors today may be wondering just how much higher it can go given that it’s already among the three most valuable companies in the world. This is where AMD may be a more compelling option.

However, for AMD to win over investors, it will need to not only grow its sales but its bottom line as well; currently, the stock trades at more than 90 times its trailing earnings, and even its forward earnings multiple (based on analysts’ consensus estimates) is 34, which is still a bit high. The S&P 500‘s forward price-to-earnings ratio is 23.

Setting prices for its AI chips at aggressively low levels could help them win market share, but it may also hurt AMD’s margins, which is why it will be imperative for investors to pay close attention to AMD’s gross margins to see if they are declining as it rolls out its newest chips.

Is AMD stock a buy right now?

Shares of AMD have been rallying over the past few months, and the business has a lot of potential to rise in value over the years. By working closely with Altman and the OpenAI team, and gaining feedback on its chips, AMD can ensure that its products meet the needs of key customers and hyperscalers.

AMD looks like a good stock to buy right now as its growth rate has been improving, and the best may still be to come as it starts rolling out its Instinct MI400 chips. Although its margins may take a hit in the near term, proving that its chips can be formidable alternatives to Nvidia’s chips will arguably be much more important to AMD in the long run.

Worldcoin’s parent entity, the nonprofit World Foundation, has injected fresh momentum into its biometric-identity project after selling $135 million worth of liquid WLD tokens at spot price to two of its earliest backers, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Bain Capital Crypto. The direct purchase—explicitly “not a venture round… a direct purchase of non-discounted liquid tokens,” according to the foundation—adds the same amount of WLD to circulating supply and leaves no lock-ups or preferential terms on the table.

Worldcoin Rakes In $135 Million

The sale is meant to bankroll a rapid expansion of Worldcoin’s iris-scanning “Orb” hardware in the United States—still the project’s toughest regulatory theater—and to keep pace with surging demand abroad. “To date, more than 26 million users participate in the World network and more than 12.5 million people have an Orb-verified World ID,” the foundation said in its press release, adding that the capital will help the network become “one of the first self-sustaining protocols.”

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Andreessen Horowitz’s participation is consistent with its early role in the project. The venture firm was a lead investor in Tools for Humanity—the company that incubated Worldcoin—during its 2021 Series A, making it a foundational backer of the ecosystem even before the World Foundation was established.

Market observers were struck by the size and terms of the buy. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted on X that “a16z and Bain just bought $135 m of Worldcoin (WLD) at the current market price … a price that is down 90% over the past 14 months. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen something like that. Intriguing tbh.” When a user suggested the purchase might simply be a “look at this thing that Sam Altman is involved with that’s so cheap,” Hougan replied, “yes, could be.”

Worldcoin casts its “proof-of-personhood” scheme as a necessary counterweight to the acceleration of artificial general intelligence. The foundation insists that identity verification tools “should scale at a similar pace to help prepare humanity for the AGI era,” and says the latest funding will be deployed primarily to manufacture more Orbs, subsidize US city roll-outs, and refine the protocol’s fee model.

Related Reading

With venture capital titans effectively doubling down at market price—and doing so after a near-90% drawdown—the trade is being interpreted as a high-conviction signal that the biometric-identity narrative may be poised for a second act. Whether that confidence can overcome regulatory headwinds and lingering privacy concerns will define the next chapter for Sam Altman’s most controversial crypto experiment.

WLD Chart Check

A weekly chart of WLD/USDT (Binance) shows price rebounding in a V-bottom manner from the low at $0.57—the 0-Fib anchor in the current retracement grid—and pushing into the cluster of moving averages that have capped every rally since the beginning of the year.

The 20-week EMA ($1.27) is the immediate hurdle; clearing it would expose the 50-week EMA at $1.87 and then the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement at $3.27.The psychologically weighty $5 region around the 0.382 level could come afterwards.

Notably, momentum has brightened: the weekly RSI is curling upwards, while higher volume bars confirm fresh dip-buying interest. Still, the longer-term structure remains decisively bearish so long as price trades beneath the $1.33-$1.41 resistance area.

At press time, WLD traded at $1.337.

Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Americans can sign up for a free share of World’s WLD
WLD


$0.9295

The company announced on April 30 that its iris-scanning devices, called orbs, are now active in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Austin, and San Francisco. While the orbs had been shown at events across the country, full services had not been offered until now.

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Recently, Americans were blocked from claiming WLD tokens due to concerns over regulatory issues. Meanwhile, World had already launched in regions across Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia.

According to the company, more than 12 million people worldwide have created a World ID so far, with around 400,000 joining just in the past week. It announced:

World launches in the USA, at last.

A statement added, “The United States of America stands at the forefront of artificial intelligence innovation. Now, it’s time for the world’s AI hub to embrace the essential counterpart: proof of human”.

World ID is designed as a digital proof of identity based on biometrics. However, the company behind the project, Tools for Humanity, claims that users’ private data remains safe.

According to its founders, Sam Altman and Alex Blania, the data from the iris scan stays on users’ devices and is protected by cryptographic technology. No raw eye images are stored on central servers.

On April 28, OpenAI added new features to its artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, ChatGPT. What are they? Read the full story.

The controversial crypto project Worldcoin (WLD) has launched its biometric identity verification system and WLD cryptocurrency in the United States, expanding to six major cities.

In a new blog post, Worldcoin says Americans can use their eye scanners to verify their IDs in Atlanta, Nashville, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin and San Francisco.

The project, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, uses eye-scanning Orb devices to generate unique digital IDs. Once verified, users receive WLD tokens and a World ID, which can be used for authentication on platforms such as Minecraft, Reddit and Telegram.

The expansion follows scrutiny in several countries, including Spain and Portugal, which have suspended World operations over concerns about biometric data collection and security.

Last year, regulators in Spain ordered the project to stop collecting data after receiving numerous complaints from customers that its data-gathering process was invasive.

Despite regulatory challenges, World has secured partnerships, including a Visa-backed debit card for WLD spending and a trial with Match Group for identity verification on dating apps.

Yesterday, before Worldcoin’s announcement, Coinbase said it was adding WLD to its roadmap.

Following the launch, WLD prices briefly surged but later dropped, trading at just over $1 – a significant decline from its all-time high in March 2024. WLD is worth $1.08 at time of writing, up 20% in the last week.

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Sam Altman’s iris-scanning crypto venture, World, announced Wednesday that it’s finally launching in the US, making its highly anticipated debut.

Starting this week, people across several US cities can now scan their eyes at World orbs and receive Worldcoin (WLD), a cryptocurrency backed by blockchain, for the first time.

For years, Worldcoin has been available in select international markets, but it was notably absent from the US until now. The delay stemmed from regulatory hurdles and privacy concerns surrounding the collection of biometric data.

The project’s reliance on iris scans raised questions about user privacy and data security, issues that had to be carefully addressed before launching in a market with strict data protection laws.

World Offers 16 WLD for Eye Scans and 150 WLD Pioneer Grant

Anyone who scans their eyes at a World orb will receive 16 WLD, and those who’ve already registered with the World app will get a “pioneer grant” of 150 WLD. The cryptocurrency can be transferred and traded within the World wallet app, and users can send WLD or other digital currencies through a private chat service integrated into the app.

In addition to its app, World is taking another big step to bridge the gap between crypto and traditional finance. It’s partnering with Visa to launch a debit card that will convert WLD into fiat currency at checkout, a move that will make the cryptocurrency much more practical for everyday use.

Iris-Scanning Process Takes 30 Seconds, Creating a Unique ID to Prevent Duplicate Registrations

The iris-scanning process is simple but effective. Users step up to a World orb, which scans their face and iris in about 30 seconds, creating a unique “IrisCode” to verify their identity. This code ensures that no one can register more than once. The orbs will be accessible at various physical locations throughout the US, including Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Nashville, Miami and San Francisco.

The company has also rolled out a smaller version of the orb, the “orb mini,” which is more portable and resembles a smartphone.

Integrations with Platforms Like Stripe and Razer

Along with the debit card, the World wallet app will expand, offering over 150 mini-apps, including one from the prediction market Kalshi. Partnerships with companies like Stripe, Match Group (the parent of Tinder) and gaming platform Razer will also integrate Worldcoin into more platforms and services, broadening its use.

Altman co-founded World in 2019, initially under the name Worldcoin, with the goal of creating a decentralized global identity system. The idea was to use iris scans and blockchain technology to combat fraud and bots online. By providing users with a secure, verifiable identity, Worldcoin hopes to create a more trustworthy digital ecosystem.

As more locations open across the US, people will have more opportunities to register and claim their free WLD tokens.

The post Sam Altman Rolls Out Iris-Scanning Crypto Project World in the US appeared first on Cryptonews.

The incarcerated founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX is now detained in a correctional facility in Los Angeles, California.

According to the inmate database of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Sam Bankman-Fried is currently serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Terminal Island. 

The 33-year-old was previously held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, but the BOP moved him to a series of locations. FCI Terminal Island houses more than 900 low-security male inmates.

Last month, Bankman-Fried was brought to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, which houses inmates who are being transported through the prison system. He was then taken to a medium-security federal prison in Victorville, California, before his subsequent move FCI Terminal Island.

The former crypto golden boy was sentenced to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of charges arising from the misuse of FTX customer funds. The multi-billion-dollar collapse of the crypto exchange marked the height of the 2022 digital asset bear market.

Bankman-Fried is set to be released in December 2044, but his parents are taking action to reduce his sentence.

Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried reportedly met with people connected to US President Donald Trump earlier this year to discuss potential clemency for their son. Political insiders do not think this will happen, though.  A crypto lobbyist interviewed by Fortune said that the probability of a pardon is “near zero.”

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Sam Bankman-Fried, currently serving a 25-year prison term, has a new home after completing an unauthorized interview with Tucker Carlson. Before the interview, SBF was housed at the Metropolitan Detention in Brooklyn, where the March 25th remote interview was conducted. The Brooklyn facility was famous for holding high-powered personalities, including R. Kelly, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Although Bankman-Fried’s transfer caught many by surprise, others in the know have long expected the move. Last May, there were rumors that officials would move SBF out of his cell, with SBF’s representatives believing their client may be transferred to Mendota, California.

Unauthorized Interview With Tucker Carlson

Bankman-Fried’s remote interview with Carlson was hosted last March 5th, without authorization by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The interview lasted for over 42 minutes, with the video and outline of the interview available on Carlson’s social media page. 

Bankman-Fried talked about various topics, including his experiences inside the prison, how these experiences changed and shaped his perspectives, and his thoughts on the crypto industry. Also, the interview touched on SBF’s financial standing and his thoughts on the Democratic Party.

Bankman-Fried’s remote interview surprised many since he was largely silent and unavailable since his 2023 conviction. Immediately after the interview, prison officials sent SBF to solitary confinement. Then, the prison officials decided to transfer SBF to another prison facility.

SBF Used Remote Interview To Address The Charges

Tucker Carlson posted a summary of the remote interview on his Twitter/X account on March 7th. The interview covered many topics and issues, and SBF also used the opportunity to deny the charges against him again. When asked by Carlson, SBF re-stated that he doesn’t consider himself a criminal. He then suggested that FTX “was solvent” at its collapse.

Bankman-Fried also contested the charges against Ryan Salame, the FTX Digital Markets co-CEO, saying they were “bogus.” He then implied that the filing of these cases was politically motivated.

Bankman-Fried Continues To Attract Controversies Even While Serving Time

Even after his conviction, Bankman-Fried continued to attract attention and controversy. His latest stunt with Tucker Carlson didn’t go under the radar; the BOP flagged the unauthorized interview, which led to the resignation of SBF’s crisis manager, Mark Botnick.

Even in detention, SBF caused some controversies and has been the subject of investigations. In August 2023, officials revoked his bail over allegations that he attempted to sway witnesses. To help counter SBF’s negative image, his legal team recommended that they work with conservative media personalities, including Tucker Carlson. The team hoped that working with conservative commentators could boost the chances of SBF getting a presidential pardon.

Featured image from ABC News, chart from TradingView

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