From App to Chain: Scaling World Chain with Optimism

World Chain began as an app on Optimism’s OP Mainnet and has since grown into a high-throughput blockchain purpose-built for real humans. Today, World supports 14 million verified unique humans. It anchors World App, from Tools for Humanity, which has more than 30 million users and has supported more than 500 million transactions. Optimism supported World throughout this journey, from application launch to chain deployment, with technical infrastructure, engineering support, and ongoing collaboration.

The Opportunity

World needed scalable, neutral blockspace to support the growth of its real human network. As World App began to scale toward millions of users, it became clear that existing L2 infrastructure needed to evolve to meet real-world performance and reliability demands.

The Solution

World launched on OP Mainnet in 2023, initially migrating over 2 million users from its beta phase. This move gave the team real-world feedback, all while proving that Ethereum rollups had matured enough for production use. Building on this experience, World launched World Chain in 2024, a dedicated Layer 2 chain built with the OP Stack as part of the Superchain. Steven Smith, Head of Protocol and Applied Research at Tools for Humanity, a contributor to World, said: 

“Bringing the entire world onchain is a task that no one entity can tackle alone. With the Superchain and the OP Stack, we found the infrastructure and the community to scale World Chain, and to keep improving it.”

With Optimism’s support, World gained access to shared governance, continuous upgrades, and deep protocol expertise, accelerating their ability to scale blockspace for a growing network of real human users.

Results

• 275M+ total transactions since launch

• 5.17M monthly active wallets

• 200M+ all time UOPS

• Featured on the cover of Time Magazine as a landmark example of proof of human infrastructure at scale

World Chain now powers a growing ecosystem of applications for proof of human, payments, and everyday digital activity, secured by Ethereum, optimized by the Superchain, and designed for real users.

Why It Matters

World Chain demonstrates a clear path for enterprises: start as an app on OP Mainnet, then graduate to a standalone chain built with the OP Stack. Optimism provides not only the tooling, but also the technical partnership and protocol stewardship to help ambitious teams bring millions of users onchain.