TFH’s Park Says World ID to Tackle Bots, Scalping as Korea Push Targets Real-World Use

Interview with Park Sang-wook, Korea head of Tools for Humanity

Push accelerates to integrate World ID with Korean companies

Focus is on ticketing solutions that block automated bots

"We want to lead the mainstream adoption of a proof-of-human layer"

Advances in artificial intelligence and automated bot programs are intensifying ticket scalping and bulk buying in the K-pop concert and sports industries. Tools for Humanity, or TFH, the developer of blockchain-based proof-of-humanity project World (WLD), said it aims to address those chronic problems in South Korea’s ticketing market with World ID, a technology that verifies a person’s uniqueness.

Park Sang-wook, TFH’s Korea head, told Bloomingbit in an interview on June 18 that the company’s top priority in South Korea this year is the local rollout of Concert Kit. The product is designed to block bot-driven bulk ticket purchases at the source and give real fans a fair chance to book tickets. TFH is focused on creating practical use cases for World ID.

Concert Kit is a solution aimed at curbing macro-based ticket hoarding, a long-running problem in the concert and sports industries. It does not replace existing ticketing platforms such as Ticket Link and NOL Ticket. Instead, it works as a separate verification layer. If an agency or artist registers a ticket allotment for certain fans or some ticket codes on Concert Kit, fans can verify that they are real people through World ID and receive a booking code. They then use that code to complete payment on an existing ticketing site. That allows agencies to screen out bot traffic without overhauling their systems.

The product has already been tested in global markets. Park said World blocked more than 100,000 bot requests during a World event in April and allocated tickets to 1,000 real fans. Rock band 30 Seconds to Mars is also set to use Concert Kit to distribute part of its ticket inventory to World ID users. TFH’s goal is to produce one or two similar ticketing partnerships in South Korea within this year.

TFH plans to start with ticketing and expand World ID into other sectors where trust is closely tied to service quality. Drawing on global integrations with dating app Tinder and gamer ecosystem Razer, the company is also broadening discussions with Korean businesses. Park said service integrations would give users a clearer reason to obtain a World ID. Creating more use cases through meetings with a wide range of Korean companies is one of this year’s goals.

A partnership with South Korean business and career platform RocketPunch is also in sight. Park said advances in AI agents are making it increasingly important to determine who is a real human online. A tie-up with RocketPunch, which centers on interactions with real people, would serve as a strong real-world use case for World ID. TFH also plans to roll out security tools for the AI era, including Deep Face, which detects deepfake video during video calls, and AgentKit, which distinguishes automated bots from human agents.

The company is also refining its offline strategy. In the early stages, TFH focused on expanding the World ecosystem by deploying its Orb iris-scanning devices. More recently, it has shifted to directly promoting the need for World ID by taking part in AI-related events such as Smart Tech Korea 2026. World Space Seoul, the company’s only flagship space in Asia, is also set to become a symbolic venue where users can directly experience services integrated with Korean companies.

World ID users now exceed 18 million. Park said South Korea already has well-developed identity verification infrastructure, meaning World ID is likely to establish itself as a complementary layer that adds trust on top of existing systems rather than replacing them. As AI and automation tools become part of daily life, the value of infrastructure that can distinguish real humans will grow further, he added.