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DC Builder
Research Engineer, World Foundation
DC Builder, who uses the handle dcbuilder.eth, is a Research Engineer at the World Foundation, where he works on proof of humanity and digital identity infrastructure.
He has worked on the World ID protocol since 2022, first at Tools for Humanity and, since February 2024, at the World Foundation. At Tools for Humanity he was a research engineer on the protocol team. His work there covered the Semaphore Merkle tree batcher circuits, the signup sequencer and the state bridge contracts that carry World ID roots from Ethereum mainnet to Optimism.
At the World Foundation he works on the Human Collective Grants program, protocol research and engineering, and the decentralization of the World ecosystem. Earlier, he was a research engineer at Alongside, focusing on decentralized custodians, secure multi-party computation and governance structures. He created devpill.me, a public-good guide for people learning to build on Ethereum.
He also invests as an angel. His technical interests are programmable cryptography (ZK and MPC), Ethereum, privacy and Rust.
In 2026 he was quoted in press coverage of AgentKit, the World ID toolkit for linking AI agents to a verified human, and he discusses proof of humanity for AI agent commerce on the Crypto Coin Show.
25:08
Latest interview · Jun 2, 2026DC Builder on World Foundation's proof of humanity for AI commerceWatch the episode →
Key points
- World ID uses custom hardware orbs with cryptographically signed camera feeds to verify humans at scale while preserving privacy through zero-knowledge proofs.
- Standard smartphone biometrics like Face ID would create collisions at 15-30 million users, requiring custom imaging hardware for billions-scale uniqueness verification.
- AgentKit integration with Coinbase links AI agents to verified human identity without exposing personal data, enabling secure agentic commerce.
- The internet lacks a native identity layer similar to how it lacked native payments before cryptocurrency, making proof-of-humanity infrastructure critical.
- World ID operates orbs across approximately 20 countries including Portugal, Argentina, Thailand, UK, and Germany to increase accessibility.
In their own words
“There needs to be a way native to the internet to prove you're a real human.”
“Give it one or two more years and it will truly look indistinguishable.”
