Worldcoin Investigated for Alleged Role in Mysterious Safe Deployments

Safe Deployments to Optimism Network Attributed to Worldcoin

Over the past week, a multitude of Safe deployments to the Optimism (OP) network have been attributed to Worldcoin, according to a June 27 social media post from Tiago Sada, the head of product for the Worldcoin developer Tools for Humanity.

The deployments had created a buzz on Twitter, with people questioning the source and aim of them. Some Twitter users had hypothesized that it could be a Sybil attack or a method of obtaining coins through sending them to the wrong address.

A Safe (formerly known as “Gnosis Safe”) is a multi-signature smart contract wallet. It is often used by development teams to ensure that multiple team members must authorize each transaction that spends funds held in common or upgrades an application. Safes are also utilized in some newer consumer wallets that utilize account abstraction, including those that offer gas-free transactions.

Worldcoin is well-known for its extensive use of Safes, providing gas-free transactions to verified individuals. Recently, the Worldcoin team revealed that they are transitioning their application from Polygon to Optimism.

In the span of six days, from June 21 to June 27, the address 0x86c5608362b3fbbeb721140472229392f754ef87 associated with Optimism created more than fifty subaccounts, each of which executed between ten thousand and fifteen thousand transactions, most of which were used to generate new Safe wallets. On the morning of June 26, Spreek, an on-chain researcher, noticed the peculiar transactions and shared the information with the public on Twitter.

Spreek expressed confusion concerning the transactions, proclaiming: “I might be missing something about this (Gnosis safes seem like sorcery to me to be honest).” In reply, Luigi.eth, a member of the GnosisDAO – a decentralized autonomous organization – stated that the DAO had alerted the Gnosis team, yet the transactions didn’t appear to be “harmful.”

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin has raised $115 million for its decentralized identification system.

Suspicions of Sybil Attack or Address-Harvesting Fraud

Will Sheehan, the founder of Parsec Finance, posted a thread in which he cryptically said “I think we can guess with a high probability what this is.” This created much speculation among his followers. One user speculated that the deployments could be a Sybil attack on the network, while another suggested that it could be an attempt to collect addresses that may receive funds erroneously in the future.

Some users on both Spreek and Sheehan’s discussion boards speculated that the deployments were not a hostile action. Instead, they postulated that the transactions could be a result of Worldcoin getting ready to transfer its application to Optimism.

One individual suggested that Worldcoin, also known as “eyeball coin,” may have been the cause, saying, “People were talking about eyeball coin but I don’t know (or understand why).” Tools for Humanity has developed an iris-scanning device, called “the Orb,” which is integrated with the Worldcoin app for identity verification.

After a short period of speculation, Tools for Humanity’s Sada finally revealed the truth. By reposting Spreek’s original post, he declared, “Deploying more Safes — keep it steady,” implying that the transactions were due to the movement of Worldcoin.

Relief can be taken by Optimism users, as the network does not seem to be presently undergoing a substantial Sybil attack or address-harvesting fraud, or at least not one that is connected to these transactions.

Optimism Network Upgraded to “Bedrock” Version

On June 6, Optimism upgraded to its new “Bedrock” version, resulting in lower fees and faster deposits. This upgrade has caused a huge surge in the number of transactions.