Worldcoin spikes as OpenAI investors push for Sam Altman’s return

Worldcoin (WLD) price was up 20% early Sunday as the cryptocurrency’s market reacted to the latest news around OpenAI. As well as Worldcoin, top AI tokens such as Render (RNDR), Fetch.ai (FET) and Akash Network (AKT) bounced higher on Sunday.

At the time of writing, the WLD token was trading at $2.41 across major exchanges. This upside follows news reports that the OpenAI board has initiated talks with Altman over the possibility of his return as CEO.

Altman is the founder of Worldcoin and was also seen as the main face of AI following the breakthrough release of ChatGPT. The AI chatbot’s success has arguably catalysed the current innovation in large language models (LLMs).

OpenAI investors push for Altman’s return

Worldcoin price fell double-digits to lows of $1.84 in the wake of the shocking ouster of OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday. The board’s said its decision was down to the CEO not being “consistently candid in his communications.”

A report by the Information late Saturday claimed OpenAI investors, who include tech giant Microsoft, are keen on Altman’s reinstatement.

Per a memo addressed to OpenAI staff, investors have asked the board to engage the former CEO and top executives who resigned after his surprise firing. According to the latest on this likely saga, there’s “optimism” within the AI company’s team and investor community that Altman will return.

Also expected to come back are those who resigned after Altman’s exit, including OpenAI president Greg Brockman and senior researchers Aleksander Mądry, Szymon Sidor and Jakub Pachocki.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that Altman is open to a return, although he’d like to see a new board in place before he takes this step. But that is the only option on the table as he has considered establishing a new company. According to the WSJ, Altman will clarify his position over the weekend.

On Saturday, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson wondered if Altman would be interested in collaborating on a decentralized LLM. This could be “a fun Cardano Partnerchain”, Hoskinson noted.