Cowrie Research

world-foundation-primary-sources-2026-08-08

3 min read

World Foundation primary-source snapshot

Fetched: 2026-08-08 UTC

1) World Foundation privacy notice

Source: https://world.org/legal/privacy-notice

Selected excerpts from the official notice:

World Foundation is a nonprofit organization that serves as the steward of the World ID protocol.

The interface to securely create, store, verify, and use World ID to prove that you are a real and unique human without revealing who you are is provided by companies building Orbs

When you initiate a transaction on World Chain using our sequencer or when you use our other blockchain-based Features, we collect information about digital wallet address, timestamp and other transaction details.

Tools for Humanity Corp., (which provide us, among others, with software development and maintenance services)

Additional signals from the source:

  • The Foundation is not framed as a passive branding or grants shell; its own privacy notice claims stewardship of World ID and operational involvement in World Chain sequencer-backed features.
  • The same notice explicitly separates Foundation stewardship from Orb-building companies, which helps avoid flattening enrollment hardware, protocol stewardship, and app/operator layers into one surface.
  • The vendor disclosure makes Tools for Humanity analytically important even when the note is centered on the Foundation, because software development and maintenance for Foundation features sits with a named affiliate/service-provider relationship.

2) World user terms and conditions

Source: https://world.org/legal/user-terms-and-conditions

Selected excerpts from the official terms:

These Terms of Service … form a binding contract between you and (i) World Foundation … (ii) World Assets Limited … (iii) World Chain LLC … and … World Network (Europe) GmbH.

These Terms govern your access to and use of: (a) the World ID protocol … (b) our websites, dashboards, SDKs, smart contracts, and associated applications or services we provide; (c) World Chain

5.1 World ID Protocol. … We are the steward of the Protocol which is made available through authorized partners (“World ID Partners”).

5.5 Worldcoin Grant … World App is provided and maintained by Tools for Humanity Corporation (“TFH”).

Additional signals from the source:

  • The legal terms treat the World stack as a multi-entity operating perimeter rather than a single undifferentiated protocol.
  • The Foundation sits inside the contracting and stewardship layer for World ID, while World Assets, World Chain LLC, and regional entities cover adjacent token, chain, and jurisdictional functions.
  • The terms explicitly distinguish World App from the protocol/legal shell by naming TFH as the app provider and maintainer.

3) World ID protocol repository README

Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/worldcoin/world-id-protocol/main/README.md

Selected excerpt from the official repo README:

The World Foundation maintains a set of reference services (indexer & gateway) for interacting with the World ID Protocol. Use of these services is not required to work with World ID. You may choose to do direct on-chain interactions, host your own services or use third-party services as you see fit.

Additional signals from the source:

  • The protocol remains open enough for self-hosting and direct onchain use, but the Foundation still operates the default reference-service lane many integrators will inherit first.
  • The right analytical move is not the Foundation controls the whole system; it is that the Foundation is part of the practical service, legal, and stewardship surface around a nominally open protocol.

Notes

  • World Foundation belongs in the companies/ layer because a meaningful part of the live control story sits in entity boundaries: protocol stewardship, authorized-partner framing, reference-service operation, and sequencer/operator-adjacent feature handling.
  • The cleanest nearby boundary map is World Foundation (stewardship / legal shell / some operated features), Tools for Humanity (World App plus software-development-and-maintenance role), and World ID / World Chain as the protocol-product surfaces users and developers touch.

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