Why is Worldcoin up today?

Worldcoin is bucking a soft market, up 5.0% over 24 hours to $0.5337 while Bitcoin slipped 1.7% to $81,378. The clearest read-across is the AI trade: Reuters reports OpenAI is accelerating its fundraising as rival Anthropic weighs a $1.5 trillion IPO. WLD trades as a proxy for Sam Altman's non-OpenAI venture, and renewed attention on AI valuations has historically pulled the token with it.

Project-specific news is also in circulation. A Cryptonews feature details how Worldcoin is now targeting banks after paying users to scan their irises, and how VanEck, MrBeast and Wall Street names have attached themselves to the project — coverage that cuts both ways but keeps the token in the headlines. At $386.54M of 24h turnover against a $2.04B market cap, trading is active relative to size.

Against that, the broader tape is defensive and Bitcoin-focused: BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust drew $665.2 million as ether ETFs bled, and J.P. Morgan projects Bitcoin to outperform stocks and gold over the next decade.