Eightco Holdings Inc., the Nasdaq-listed company investing in crypto and artificial intelligence projects specifically tied to the World ecosystem, said Friday it has acquired an additional $40 million equity stake in high-profile private company OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

The company, ticker symbol ORBS, has now invested a total of $90 million in OpenAI, co-founded by CEO Sam Altman.

"We believe our investment in OpenAI represents a transformative opportunity not only for ORBS, but for our shareholders," Eightco CEO Kevin O'Donnell said in a statement. "Access to high-growth private companies has historically been limited to institutional investors, and we're proud to offer retail investors meaningful exposure to one of the most important AI companies in the world."

Eightco is the largest public holder of WLD, the native token of the Altman-backed, crypto project World. Last year, Eightco launched a WLD digital asset treasury with a $250 million private placement. It now owns 10% of the total WLD supply, according to a statement.

Altman co-founded Tools for Humanity, the chief developer of the crypto-based proof-of-humanity project World, which assigns user IDs to people who verify they are human by scanning their eyeballs.

Eightco also counts Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chairman Tom Lee as an ally. Lee recently joined Eightco's board of directors, and Lee's Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine (BMNR) has invested $75 million into the company. 

Aside from holding about $24 million in Ethereum, Eightco has also invested $25 million in Beast Industries, the media and consumer platform founded by YouTube creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast. Beast Industries is another Bitmine portfolio holding.

Eightco's shares dropped about 5% in early trading Friday, according to Yahoo Finance.