Worldcoin’s token plunged nearly 12% on Tuesday, even as Robinhood added it to the exchange’s trading roster – a move that normally lifts new listings but failed to counter mounting pressure from allegations surrounding co-founder Sam Altman.
The listing, announced via Robinhood’s X account on June 23, made Worldcoin available to the platform’s millions of retail users. Yet the token price dropped from roughly $2.80 to $2.47 within hours, according to CoinGecko data. It has since stabilized near $2.50.
What weighed on sentiment was not the listing itself but the cloud over Altman, who also heads OpenAI. Fresh scrutiny – stemming from a June 22 report that alleged conflicts of interest between his work on artificial intelligence and Worldcoin’s biometric data collection – reignited concerns about the project’s governance. Worldcoin’s foundation has denied any impropriety, but the bearish tone suggests traders are pricing in regulatory risk.
The timing is awkward for Robinhood. The brokerage had been quietly expanding its altcoin offerings, hoping to capture attention from Coinbase and Binance refugees. Worldcoin was seen as a high-profile addition, given Altman’s celebrity. Instead, the listing coincided with a wave of sell orders – retail-sized transfers that hit exchange order books minutes after the announcement.
“This is not the typical ‘buy the listing’ reaction you see with new assets,” one market maker told crypto.news on condition of anonymity. “Sellers are using the liquidity Robinhood provides to exit positions they’ve been holding since the airdrop.”
The data supports that. On-chain analytics show that addresses funded from the initial Worldcoin distribution in 2023 have been actively moving tokens to exchanges over the past week, accelerating after the Robinhood news broke. Approximately 3.2 million WORLD tokens – worth around $8 million at current prices – landed on Binance, Bybit, and now Robinhood in the last 72 hours.
For traders, the question is whether the liquidation pressure will ease. Worldcoin still has a large portion of its supply locked in vesting schedules, but the unlocked float is about 25% of the total. If the Altman allegations grow louder, more early holders may rush to cash out. Conversely, a decisive rebuttal from the foundation or a regulatory green light in key markets like Japan or the UK could shift sentiment.
The immediate watch item is the next price floor. Worldcoin is testing support at $2.40, a level that held during the May selloff. A break below that could open the path to $2.00. Robinhood’s listing provides a liquidity venue for that move – either up or down.
Robinhood lists Worldcoin but token drops 12% amid founder’s controversy
Robinhood made Worldcoin’s token available for trading, but its price fell sharply as concerns about co-founder Sam Altman’s practices caused many investors to sell. This affects traders using Robinhood and raises questions about the token’s future stability.