What is WorldCoin, the project that seeks crypto eye scans for signups? A new cryptocurrency project called WorldCoin, from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is also WorldCoin founder, has claimed over 2 million sign ups across the world around a week after its official launch on July 24.
(Image Credit: WorldCoin Twitter account)So what is WorldCoin? The difference between WorldCoin token from many existing cryptocurrencies is its use of biometrics. Its unique method of sign-up, involving crypto eye scan. This WorldCoin token crypto eye scan has rung alarm bells in countries such as France, Germany and Kenya. India also has at least 17 sign up locations, mostly at Delhi Metro stations in the NCR region and a few in Bengaluru. In comparison, the U.S has 10 locations and Japan has three locations, according to the WorldCoin website.
What is WorldCoin?
“The WorldCoin protocol is intended to be the world’s largest identity and financial public network, open to everyone regardless of their country, background or economic status,” states its website.
The WorldCoin token project has been in the works for the last few years and its stated aim is to provide a unique, verified identity for everyone.
It wants to offer users an account that only “real humans” can get, through what it calls a “World ID”. For this, a customer has to sign up and do a crypto eye scan in-person at particular locations, where their irises would be scanned through a ball-like object called an ‘orb’. Once the orb’s iris scan verifies the person is a real human, it creates a World ID for them.
Aspects of WorldCoin
The project has three aspects:
- World ID or a digital identity for “proving an individual’s unique personhood,”
- WorldCoin token (WLD) that is its cryptocurrency
- World App that enables “payment, purchases and transfers globally using digital assets and traditional currencies.”
Signing up process for WorldCoin’s World ID?
For creating a World ID, an eye scan to sign up is essential. As an incentive, WorldCoin has offered an amount of its cryptocurrency for free and users can then either sell it or wait for their value to inflate.
As of August 1, 2023, one WorldCoin token equals 0.57 rupees, according to the crypto exchange platform CoinBase. According to Reuters, with its launch, WorldCoin is scaling up “orbing” operations to 35 cities in 20 countries.
As per some reports greater amounts have been offered in a few instances earlier. An April 2022 report from BuzzFeed News said that some users in Africa and Asia, during beta trials, claimed they were offered up to $20 dollars’ worth of WorldCoin tokens when it was being tested.
MIT Technology Review, in its report from the same month, also noted that at least initially during testing in places like Indonesia, the Orb operators were hired on a commission basis. This meant that the greater the number of sign-ups, the greater their commission.
WorldCoin founders
San Francisco and Berlin-based Company Tools for Humanity is behind WorldCoin. Sam Altman along with Alex Blania are the WorldCoin founders.
Privacy concerns over WorldCoin
The WorldCoin website says that images collected by the Orb are “promptly deleted unless explicitly requested by the person signing up”. It adds that in its place, a message containing a numerical representation of the most important features of the image captured remains, to create a unique individual code.
But this has not convinced certain regulators. As per a report a German data watchdog has been investigating the project since late last year “due to concerns over its large-scale processing of sensitive biometric data”,
Britain’s data regulator has also said it will make inquiries into the project. France’s privacy watchdog also said that the legality of the project’s biometric data collection “seems questionable”.
Why was WorldCoin created?
WorldCoin was “designed to protect individual privacy and has built a robust privacy program” and is committed to ensuring it meets regulatory requirements, as per WorldCoin Foundation.
