The company has so far amassed over 100,000 users globally already, and aims to hit the 1 billion user milestone by 2023.

Worldcoin CEO Alex Blania hinted Worldcoin could be used as "infrastructure" for a universal basic income one day.

It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie — metallic orbs that scan people's eyes to pay them in digital currency.

That's what tech investor Sam Altman has been working on for his new start-up, a company called Worldcoin. Launched out of "stealth" on Thursday, Worldcoin promises to hand out free cryptocurrency to people who verify their accounts by taking an iris scan.

Worldcoin says it's already attracted $25 million in funding from Silicon Valley investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase and billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, giving the firm a $1 billion valuation.