Sam Altman is widely regarded as one of the brightest minds in technology.
But his newest venture is causing euphoria, intrigue and controversy across the world.
What’s happening:
- Worldcoin is a crypto project co-founded by Sam Altman and Alex Blania aiming to become a financial network accessible to everyone
- The project has been wildly popular in its initial launch but has also come under enormous scrutiny from both users and global governments
- Many are outraged by the concept of encouraging individuals to voluntarily give up their biometric data and the underlying privacy concerns of a private company being involved in such a process
The details:
- Worldcoin has proprietary hardware known as an Orb that verifies individuals through scanning their iris
- The Kenyan government ordered Worldcoin to stop signing up new users amid their concerns over citizens privacy
- Further, the Kenyan government has launched an investigation into Worldcoin citing concerns about biometric data and offering money in exchange for signing up users
- France, Britain and other countries have also been outspoken about their concerns around privacy being caused by Worldcoin
- Regulators in Argentina and Germany have both launched formal investigations into Worldcoin
Yes but:
- Despite the numerous criticisms, Worldcoin has been growing rapidly at the global level
- Recently Worldcoin signed up more than 9000 individuals in a single day in Argentina
- Currently Worldcoin has more than 2 million users using the network in just over two months since its initial launch
- Worldcoin’s app has been downloaded in more than 120 different countries and currently has Orbs in the Middle East, Asia, the United States, Europe and more
Going deeper:
- Worldcoin has been public about their intention to work closely with regulators and governments, saying they welcome discussions about privacy concerns
- Further, Worldcoin continues to affirm publicly they will never under any circumstances sell or leverage people’s personal private data and says it is permanently deleted once a user has signed up
Market reaction:
- Worldcoin, which trades under the crypto symbol WLD, has seen its token value decrease by approximately 30% since its launch
