Despite banning NFTs within popular sandbox title Minecraft in July 2022, developers Mojang and publishers Microsoft have given the green light to an integration from Worldcoin, a biometric cryptocurrency project headed by OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman.
The integration allows owners of Minecraft servers to restrict access only to players who possess a World ID, a digital proof-of-humanity passport created by Worldcoin that requires an in-person iris scan to obtain.
Introducing World ID 2.0https://t.co/EklnjoCPlN
— Worldcoin (@worldcoin) December 13, 2023
Minecraft vs. NFTs
Back in July 2022, Mojang announced a complete ban on any NFT integrations with their lead title, citing issues around “scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.”
This had a major impact on a wide array of web3 projects – the most significant of which, NFT Worlds, had generated a trading volume in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with the project since pivoting to create their own voxel realm.
Mojang’s green light to the Worldcoin integration is the first sign of a thawing in the team’s stance in almost 18 months.
Sam Altman and Microsoft
Microsoft have invested heavily into AI over the past few years, at first striking a major partnership, then subsequently purchasing a 49% stake in Sam Altman’s company OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT.
Following Sam’s dramatic firing and rehiring that took place in November 2023, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has publicly backed Altman on numerous occasions, yet this is the first sign that Microsoft are open to exploring how they can work with Altman’s Worldcoin venture.
The Worldcoin x Minecraft integration does not tap into the native $WLD token, rather using solely the World ID technology to verify player authenticity. This keeps the integration in line with Minecraft’s strict anti-NFT EULA policy, and allows US players to access these World ID-restricted servers without requiring any exposure to the $WLD token.
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