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Max Novendstern

Founder and CEO at Mana and Worldcoin

Max Novendstern, Co-Founder of Worldcoin

Max Novendstern is the co-founder and former CEO of Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project that uses iris biometrics to authenticate users online.134 He co-founded Worldcoin in 2019 alongside Sam Altman and Alex Blania.34

Some key facts about Max Novendstern:

  • He left Worldcoin in 2021 to start a new venture called Mana, which aims to build an "AI venture capitalist that will run autonomously on-chain"2
  • Prior to Worldcoin, he worked as an Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates and in Finance at Wave Mobile Money in East Africa
  • He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University
  • His LinkedIn username is maxnovendstern

Worldcoin has accumulated $250 million in funding from venture capital firms since its founding.4 The project hopes to provide a reliable way to authenticate humans online with its "World ID" and incentivize sign-ups by distributing its WLD tokens.34

Highlights

Jan 23 · twitter

We have more measures of peak AI intelligence than of AI's proliferation through the economy but the latter matters quite a bit now (new growth is roughly the area under the curve of intelligence x proliferation, and the latter seems like the marginal opportunity)

Re: USA vs China, I'd bet we proliferate AI faster in the end but it's not obvious––there's vast inefficiency in our efficient markets (firm productivity dispersal is very high) and an accelerationist Politburo could mandate every firm use DeepSeek Code tomorrow, a classic in the ELO contest of freedom vs command

Jan 23 · twitter

I'd bet America proliferates AI faster through its economy than China does in the end

But it's a metric to watch––there's vast inefficiency in our putatively efficient markets and an accelerationist Politburo could mandate every firm use DeepSeek Code tomorrow

New growth == the area under the intelligence x proliferation curve

Worldcoin: Altman's Crypto Vision Unveiled | FinTech Magazine
Aug 8 · techhq.com
Worldcoin down but not out - TechHQ
Aug 24 · techcrunch.com
Worldcoin co-founder leaves firm to start new venture - TechCrunch
Worldcoin co-founder leaves firm to start new venture - TechCrunch
Oct 28 · Financial Post
Mastercard makes big move into crypto, plus an iris scanning company with universal ambitions - Financial Post
Oct 23 · Yahoo Finance
A new cryptocurrency called worldcoin wants to scan 1 billion people's iris by 2023 to speed up digital currency adoption - Yahoo Finance

Related Questions

What is the main goal of Mana, Max Novendstern's new venture?
How did Max Novendstern's experience at Bridgewater Associates influence his career?
What challenges did Worldcoin face during Max Novendstern's tenure as CEO?
How does Worldcoin's iris biometric technology work?
What are the key features of Worldcoin's digital identity, World ID?
Max Novendstern
Max Novendstern, photo 1
Max Novendstern, photo 2
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Experience

Founder and CEO at Mana since March 2022
Founder and former CEO at Worldcoin; Finance at Wave Mobile Money; Investment Associate at Bridgewater Associates

Education

B.A. in Philosophy from Harvard University

Location

San Francisco Bay Area