Solidus Network
Solidus vs Worldcoin
Worldcoin proves you are a unique human, once, using proprietary iris-scanning hardware. Solidus's architecture issues W3C Verifiable Credentials for identity attributes — age, citizenship, verification status — with no biometric capture step in the flow. This is a foil comparison, not a feature bake-off Solidus is close to winning.
Solidus is a public testnet: no mainnet, no token, no external audit, and no paying customer. Every claim below is checkable; none of them are a substitute for the certifications an incumbent already holds.
What Worldcoin does better
- ~$240M raised — likely the largest identity-startup raise on record. Solidus has no disclosed funding round of this kind.
- 15M+ World App users and 6M+ Orb-verified humans claimed — by raw number, more identity events than any SSI-standards vendor in this category, Solidus included.
- The Orb: proprietary iris-scanning hardware is a real, hard-to-replicate moat. Solidus has no hardware layer at all.
- Full-stack control — World Chain, World App, the Orb, and the $WLD token are one company's stack, a distribution advantage Solidus's protocol-plus-partners model does not have.
Where Solidus is different
- No biometric hardware and no biometric capture step in the credential-issuance flow — Solidus's architecture is document-and-credential based on open W3C DID/VC standards, not a proprietary Semaphore ZK proof tied to iris-scan hardware.
- did:solidus is registered in the W3C DID Method Registry; World ID is a proprietary protocol integrated like OAuth, not a registered W3C DID method, per its own brief.
- No token-incentivized registration — Solidus has no token at all, which sidesteps the "paying people to scan their eyes" dynamic the brief itself names as a source of regulatory friction for Worldcoin.
Side by side
| Feature | Solidus | Worldcoin |
|---|---|---|
| Funding raised | None disclosed | ~$240M raisedWorldcoin wins |
| Users / verified humans | None — testnet, no paying customer | 15M+ World App users, 6M+ Orb-verified humans (claimed)Worldcoin wins |
| Proof type | Document + credential-based W3C VC | Biometric — proprietary iris scan (the Orb) + Semaphore ZK |
| Biometric capture | None in the credential-issuance flow | Iris scan required via Orb hardware |
| DID method registered in W3C registry | did:solidus — registered 2026-07-04 | Proprietary World ID protocol — not a registered W3C DID method, per brief |
| Token | None exists | $WLD — token-incentivized registration |
| Regulatory actions on record | N/A — pre-launch testnet, no live product to regulate yet | Restricted in Kenya, Spain (reinstated), Hong Kong; investigated by Germany's BfDI, per briefWorldcoin wins |
| Hardware moat | None — software/protocol only | The Orb — proprietary iris-scan hardware, hard to replicateWorldcoin wins |
Check it yourself
Resolve a did:solidus DID against the live testnet RPC at rpc.solidus.network — the issuance flow has no biometric capture step, unlike Worldcoin's Orb-based registration.