Grayscale's SEC registration statement for a proposed Worldcoin ETF, filed this week, discloses that the 100 largest WLD wallets hold roughly 90% of all tokens currently in circulation. The figure appeared in the fund's risk factors section, where Grayscale flagged ownership concentration as a material concern for anyone considering the product.
The filing comes just days after Grayscale applied to list the fund on Nasdaq under the ticker GWLD. If approved, the trust would hold WLD directly, price shares using the CoinDesk Worldcoin Benchmark Rate, and use BitGo Bank and Trust as custodian. BNY Mellon would handle administration and transfer duties.
A gap between the whitepaper and reality
Worldcoin's original whitepaper promised that most tokens would eventually flow to individuals who verified their humanity through the project's iris-scanning identity system. Grayscale's filing tells a different story: it states it is "reasonably likely" that early holders own a significant chunk of the circulating supply, putting actual distribution far behind those long-term goals.
One caveat buried in the document: a large address identified on public blockchain data belongs to the bridge linking Ethereum and World Chain, so some of that concentration may reflect pooled deposits from many users rather than a single whale. Grayscale still treats the overall picture as a serious risk.
The filing also notes that governance of the World Network remains largely in the hands of the World Foundation, despite earlier promises to decentralize over time. WLD may eventually carry voting rights, but the mechanisms to make that work are described as untested at scale. World Chain itself still depends on centralized infrastructure, a detail Grayscale flags alongside the ownership data.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
