PANews, December 12th - According to TechCrunch, World, the biometric authentication project co-founded by Sam Altman, released the latest version of its application today, introducing several new features, including encrypted chat integration and expanded cryptocurrency sending and requesting capabilities similar to Venmo. At a small gathering at World's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday, Altman introduced the new version (which developers call a "super app"), followed by details from the product team. The company stated that World Chat, as a new instant messaging tool, uses end-to-end encryption to protect user conversations and uses colored bubbles to remind users whether their conversation partners have been verified through the World system, thus incentivizing users to authenticate themselves and confirm the identity of their conversation partners. The chat feature was initially launched as a beta version in March.

Another major feature announced on Thursday is the expanded digital payment system, allowing app users to send and receive cryptocurrency. The World app has been functioning as a digital wallet for some time, but the latest version offers much broader capabilities. Using a virtual bank account, users can also directly deposit their salaries into the World app and make deposits from their bank accounts, both of which can be converted to cryptocurrency. Using these features requires no verification through World's authentication system.