The Good Tech Companies - How World Chain Ensures Humans Stay in Control: The Blockchain Built for Verified Humans

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-world-chain-ensures-humans-stay-in-control-the-blockchain-built-for-verified-humans. Discover how World Chain is revolutionizing blockchain technology by prioritizing verified humans over AI bots. Check more stories related to tech-stories at: https://hackernoon.com/c/tech-stories. You can also check exclusive content about #world-chain, #world-chain-interview, #good-company, #web3, #cryptocurrency, #world-chain-announcement, #blockchain, #ai, and more. This story was written by: @ishanpandey. Learn more about this writer by checking @ishanpandey's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Discover how World Chain is revolutionizing blockchain technology by prioritizing verified humans over AI bots.

This audio is presented by Hacker Noon, where anyone can learn anything about any technology. How World Chain Ensures Humans Stay In Control. The Blockchain Built For Verified Humans, by Aashan Pandey. AI agents and bots increasingly dominate digital spaces, and distinguishing real human interactions from automated systems has become a pressing challenge. Stephen Smith, Head of Protocol and Applied research at Tools for Humanity, is in charge of solving this through the World Project. With the recent mainnet launch of World Chain, a blockchain designed to prioritize verified

humans, Stephen and his team are pioneering proof of human technology to ensure fairness and trust in digital ecosystems. In this interview, we explore the technical breakthroughs behind priority block space for humans, PBH, the role of world ID in combating AI-driven challenges, and the future of trust-first AI ecosystems that empower human agency. 1. Ashant Pondy. Stephen, as the head of protocol and applied research at TOOLSFOR Humanity, you're driving the World Project's mission to prioritize real humans in a digital world overrun by AI agents and bots. Can you tell us about the vision behind World Chain? Steven Smith. World Chain, our blockchain designed for real humans, was built for a few core reasons.

First, World Network has grown substantially, and we anticipate even greater scale in the future. As such, we need to develop the best infrastructure to ensure that scaling is seamless. Second, we envision a future where humans can coexist with AI agents and bots. Contrary to the common perception that bots are inherently bad actors, many are essential to network operations. AI agents, in particular, serve as productivity enhancers and multipliers, amplifying what individuals can achieve.

The key is ensuring that humans remain central to any given network. World Chain enables this by creating a blockchain specifically designed to accommodate both AI agents and bots while insulating human users from their potential drawbacks. It's a blockchain built for people, a human-centric network that prioritizes verified users. Since WorldChain's mainnet launch in October 2024, 24-plus million world ID holders across 160-plus countries have either migrated or are in the process of migrating to WorldChain, making it the largest blockchain of individually verified humans in the world. WorldChain is also maintaining the highest UOPS-TPS ratio of any Ethereum blockchain

according to L2Bit. The network is supported by world-class blockchain service providers like Optimism, Alchemy, Uniswap, Safe, Dune, and Etherscan, and it integrates WorldID natively to prioritize human transactions. 2. Ashant Pondy What were some of the biggest technical obstacles you faced when designing priority block space for humans, PBH, to ensure that VERIFIEDHUMAN transactions take precedence over those from bots ORI agents?

Steven Smith The fundamental challenge in designing priority block space for humans, PBH, was determining, at the blockchain consensus level, whether a transaction originates from a human. Fortunately, WorldID, which is a proof of human credential used on-chain, solves this problem. WorldID leverages zero-knowledge proofs, ZKP, allowing users to prove their unique humanness without revealing personal data. PBH, which recently launched on the World ChainTestnet, is like a dedicated highway lane for humans, ensuring smooth and prioritized transactions.

Every human verified transaction on world chaincarries and associated ZKP, enabling the network to identify and prioritize them. Another consideration was how to architect PBH as a modular, generic service that could extend beyond its initial application. Our collaboration with Flashbots and consultation with Optimism and Paradigm played a crucial role in refining this approach. By cleanly separating the block building mechanism from the execution client, we designed an architecture that can be adapted for various use cases beyond PBH. 3. Ashant Pandey. Can you walk US through how PBH works within world chains architecture? How does it leverage world ID and the opstack to prioritize HUMANTRANSACTIONS while maintaining

security and decentralization? Steven Smith. PBH is currently live on Testnet and is built on OpStack, the roll-up SDK from Optimism. OpStack consists of multiple infrastructure components, one of which is responsible for block construction, deciding which transactions get included. To implement PBH, our collaborations integrated the Reth execution client to modify the block building process. PBH transactions carry a special payload that includes a world ID proof, ensuring that a transaction comes from a verified human. This mechanism enables priority inclusion of human transactions while maintaining decentralization

and security. 4. A'Shawn Pondy. With World Chain now live on Mainnet, how does your SYSTEMHANDLE a high volume of transactions while ensuring that verified humans aren't outpaced by automated systems? What optimizations were key to achieving THISBALANCE? Steven Smith The core optimization is reserving a portion of every block specifically for human transactions.

These transactions are prioritized at the top of each block, ensuring timely processing and insulation from bidding wars. Automated systems, particularly bots, operate with economic incentives, often paying high fees to secure priority inclusion. Without intervention, human users would face rising costs and delays. PBH eliminates this problem by guaranteeing a set amount of block space for human-verified transactions, ensuring they remain affordable and accessible regardless of network congestion. Additionally, verified users benefit from Auga's allowance, helping to cover the cost of casual transactions and ensuring affordability for everyday users.

Casual transactions make up a majority OF activity on world chain, and this is what makes the network unique. We are a bringing all people on chain, not just power users. 5. Ashaan Pandey. PBH and world ID have the potential to ACT as a global, blue CHECK mark, for eye-driven services. How do these technologies enable safe ANDF-AIR integration with other blockchain's OR platforms, and what impact do you foresee on the broader ecosystem? Steven Smith PBH was designed with a specific application in mind, ensuring a special class of service for humans on Worldchain.

However, the underlying architecture is highly modular and can be adapted by other chains and platforms. The PBH code is open source, allowing any blockchain to implement similar human-prioritized transaction mechanisms. World ID functions as a global, blue checkmark, for unique humanness, providing a way to distinguish real users from automated entities across AI-driven services. In addition, it empowers users by allowing AI agents acting on their behalf to inherit the same verified privileges. The open-source nature of World ID ensures it can propagate across other chains and applications, further solidifying its role in civil resistance and human verification. Examples of World ID integrations include apps and services like Minecraft, Reddit, Telegram,

Shopify, and Mercado Libre, as well as blockchain projects like Drip, DSCVR, Galx, and more. Most recently, World announced a global partnership with gaming company Razer to launch Razer ID verified by World ID, a secure, single sign on proof of human technology designed to create a safe and more authentic gaming environment. These integrations demonstrate World ID's growing role as a trust layer across web 3, AI driven platforms, and beyond. 6.

Ashant Pandey. Looking ahead, what technical advancements are next for the World Project? How do you plan to further enhance human agency and T.A.C.K.L.E.C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E-S like deepfakes, scams, and agent swarms in trust-first-eye ecosystems? Steven Smith We are continuing to develop innovative mechanisms to enhance human agency on-chain. One major initiative is expanding the gas allowance for verified human users to cover a portion of their on-chain activities, minimizing the friction of interacting with blockchain applications. We are also exploring new fee market structures to further insulate verified human transactions from volatility. Beyond blockchain transactions, we're actively working on technologies to combat

deepfakes, scams, and agent swarms. This includes expanding World ID credentials and developing World ID DeepFace, a tool designed to combat deepfakes in real-time video and chat interactions. Ultimately, our goal is to build a blockchain ecosystem that prioritizes human agency, ensuring that individuals remain at the center of digital trust and economic participation. Don't forget to like and share the story. Tip Vested Interest Disclosure. This author is an independent contributor publishing via our business blogging program. Hacker Noon has reviewed the report for quality, but the claims herein belong to the author. Hashtag dyo. Thank you for listening to this Hacker Noon story, read by Artificial Intelligence.

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