Worldcoin Seen as an Undervalued Play on the AI IPO Boom, Says Maelstrom

Maelstrom forecasts that the Worldcoin price could climb to $5 by August, representing an increase of roughly 900% from its current value.

Maelstrom, founded by Arthur Hayes, said the Worldcoin token could rally to as much as $5 in the coming months, with WLD being viewed as a cryptocurrency proxy for the expanding artificial intelligence sector.

“The wave of major AI-related IPOs is approaching, yet one of the clearest proxy opportunities appears to have been largely overlooked by the market,” said Lukas Ruppert on Wednesday.

The artificial intelligence boom has continued to accelerate across the United States. On May 22, OpenAI confidentially submitted its IPO filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a public market debut reportedly targeted for September 2026. The company is seeking to raise $60 billion and could be valued at as much as $1 trillion.

Meanwhile, rival AI firm Anthropic confidentially submitted its draft IPO prospectus on Monday, shortly after announcing on May 28 that its valuation had reached $965 billion following a new funding round that raised $65 billion.

US stock markets, including the S&P 500, reached fresh record highs this week, largely fueled by a rally in artificial intelligence and data storage companies such as SanDisk, Micron Technology, Seagate Technology and Western Digital.

However, Ruppert argued that WLD’s valuation has yet to reflect that trend, while corporate buying activity and adjustments to the token’s unlock schedule could serve as key catalysts for a potential price surge.

Worldcoin serves as the native asset of Worldcoin, a crypto initiative co-founded by Sam Altman that focuses on building a worldwide digital identity and financial ecosystem capable of distinguishing human users from AI-driven bots.

Two Key Catalysts Could Drive a Sharp Worldcoin Price Rally#

Prices of Worldcoin have remained on a downward trajectory since February, with the pace of declines increasing in March after a private token sale was carried out.

Worldcoin secured $65 million through an over-the-counter funding round in March, with WLD tokens sold directly to private investors at negotiated prices rather than through public exchanges. Of the total amount raised, $25 million has been locked for a six-month period.

However, to guard against potential declines in WLD before their tokens become available, investors opened short positions in perpetual futures markets, creating what Ruppert described as a “textbook short overhang.”

He said there are two possible catalysts that could help eliminate this temporary and mechanically driven market overhang.

Eightco, which has already accumulated 283 million WLD tokens, currently holds about $144 million in cash on its balance sheet. Ruppert said that if the company deploys those funds to acquire additional heavily shorted WLD tokens, a “reflexive loop” could be created, potentially driving prices significantly higher.

Secondly, the token unlock schedule for Worldcoin, under which new tokens are released into circulation daily, is expected to be reduced by 43% on July 24, potentially removing a significant source of ongoing selling pressure.

“Investor capital is being aggressively directed toward exposure to Anthropic and OpenAI,” Ruppert said. While valuations in that sector have climbed into the hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars, WLD currently trades at an unlocked market capitalization of about $2 billion, which he described as relatively small by AI industry standards, calling it an “asymmetric upside” opportunity.

The research note was released as Worldcoin emerged as the strongest-performing cryptocurrency among the top 100 assets by market capitalization, posting gains of roughly 60% over the past seven days.

“WLD rarely makes large moves, but when momentum arrives, the price tends to accelerate sharply,” he said. A target of $5 by August has been projected by Maelstrom, implying a potential gain of about 900% from the token’s current trading level near $0.50.