Sam Altman Faces SBF Comparisons as Worldcoin Price Dips

• Report raises fresh concerns over Sam Altman’s conduct and leadership amid growing scrutiny.
• Microsoft executive draws comparison to major fraud figures, intensifying debate around Altman.
• OpenAI insiders allege a pattern of misleading behavior by Altman in internal dealings.

An investigative report published by The New Yorker this week has reignited questions about Sam Altman’s character and judgment at the worst possible time for Worldcoin, the biometric cryptocurrency project he co-founded, as the token declined while the story spread across financial and tech circles.

The investigation draws on interviews with more than a hundred people with firsthand knowledge of how Altman conducts business. 

The SBF Comparison Nobody Wanted

The most damaging line in the report comes from a senior Microsoft executive, speaking about Altman’s conduct in their business relationship.

“He has misrepresented, distorted, renegotiated, reneged on agreements,” the executive said, adding, “I think there’s a small but real chance he’s eventually remembered as a Bernie Madoff or Sam Bankman-Fried-level scammer.”

Inside OpenAI Tensions

The report also revisits internal friction at OpenAI, particularly around Altman’s brief removal in 2023.

According to the investigation, former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever compiled extensive internal documents, alleging Altman had misrepresented information to colleagues and board members. The first item listed in his notes was a single word: “Lying.”

Similarly, Dario Amodei, now leading Anthropic, reportedly documented concerns over several years, concluding in private notes that “the problem with OpenAI is Sam himself.”

One unnamed board member quoted in the report described Altman as “unconstrained by truth,” though such claims remain contested. Altman, for his part, pushed back on the characterization, attributing criticism to internal disagreements, competitive tensions, and what he described as normal business behavior.

Market Pressure Builds on Worldcoin

The scrutiny comes at a difficult time for Worldcoin. At press time, the WLD token is trading around $0.245, down about 1.16% over the past 24 hours, and slightly lagging the broader crypto market amid weak sentiment.

Recent selling pressure has also weighed on the price. The World Foundation, linked to the project, sold 239 million WLD tokens in over-the-counter deals for roughly $65 million at around $0.27. Shortly after, the price dropped sharply, touching new all-time lows near $0.24.

Related: Sam Altman Served With a Subpoena During a Public Event in San Francisco