Elon Musk labeled OpenAI founder Sam Altman “Scam Altman” on Monday as anonymous crypto investigator ZachXBT accused Worldcoin (CRYPTO: WLD) of launching with a “predatory low float” structure reminiscent of FTX tactics.
The Worldcoin Allegations
ZachXBT jumped into the conversation under Musk’s post, describing Worldcoin’s WLD token as targeting people in low-income countries by offering small amounts of WLD in exchange for iris scans.
Instead of creating verified digital identities, the project spawned a black market for verified World IDs trading for as little as $5 to $15.
ZachXBT pointed to unsustainable token inflation and regular over-the-counter sales by insiders, calling the whole setup exploitative.
He previously labeled WLD “the biggest scam token of the bull run” in July 2024, accusing the team and venture capital backers of complicity in price manipulation and misleading marketing.
The investigator framed Worldcoin as Altman’s “other company” which deserves the same scrutiny as OpenAI amid Musk’s ongoing lawsuit against the AI firm.
What Triggered Musk’s Attack
Musk’s “Scam Altman” post came in response to Ronan Farrow’s 18-month New Yorker investigation questioning whether Altman can be trusted to control artificial general intelligence’s future.
The report draws on internal documents including Ilya Sutskever’s 70-page memos and Dario Amodei’s notes alleging a pattern of lying and misleading executives on safety.
The investigation highlights Altman’s reinstatement after his 2023 firing, dissolution of safety teams, and pursuits of Gulf funding.
Multiple sources described him as “unconstrained by truth” with a “sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences” of deceiving others.
Sutskever’s memos documented instances where Altman allegedly misrepresented facts to executives and board members, deceived them about internal safety protocols, and told different things to different people.
The memos opened with “Sam exhibits a consistent pattern of” and listed “Lying” first.
The Microsoft Deal Controversy
One documented incident involved Dario Amodei presenting safety demands for a roughly $1 billion Microsoft investment in 2019.
Altman agreed, but as the deal closed, they added a provision giving Microsoft the power to block mergers, contradicting OpenAI’s charter.
When Amodei confronted Altman, he initially denied the provision existed until Amodei read it aloud and forced a colleague to confirm it. Amodei called it an “80%” betrayal of the charter. This contributed to the Amodeis leaving to found Anthropic in 2020.
What This Means
The renewed scrutiny puts both Worldcoin’s token model and Altman’s track record back in the spotlight.
An independent review after Altman’s 2023 firing found “many instances” of him saying different things to different people, though no full report was released.
Benzinga has reached out to Worldcoin with request for comment.
Image: Shutterstock
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