Malaysians will now be able to prove their humanity using Worldcoin technology, according to a statement published Friday.
Worldcoin Foundation and Tools for Humanity have signed a memorandum of understanding, or MoU, with the Malaysian government, according to a blog post.
"As part of the MoU, new Worldcoin operations in Malaysia will give individuals access to individual humanness verifications using state-of-the-art iris imaging technology developed by [Tools for Humanity] for the Worldcoin project," it said in the statement.
At the core of the Worldcoin project is its founders' goal is to preserve the future health of the internet by establishing a means of distinguishing between human and non-human actors. Individuals are assigned World IDs after proving their humanity by agreeing to an iris scan. Signups are rewarded with cryptocurrency in the form of WLD tokens.
Although the project has confronted scrutiny over issues of privacy, the project has also forged relationships with several nations, including, most recently Austria.
"The Worldcoin Foundation will work to ensure that its technology is open source and freely available," according to Friday's statement.
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Worldcoin has attracted significant attention given that Tools for Humanity, the main proponent behind the project, was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
As part of this newly signed MoU, both the Worldcoin project and the Malaysian government will explore the possibility of working together to manufacture the orbs used for creating iris scans. The two sides will also consider "bridging" Worldcoin's World Chain protocol with Malaysia's own blockchain infrastructure.
It is Malaysia's "applied research and development arm," known as MIMOS Berhad, that officially signed the MoU announced on Friday. The new agreement was likely months in the making as both Altman and his Tools for Humanity co-founder Alex Blania met with Malaysian officials back in April.
Memorandums of understanding, while a signal different parties have an interest in working together, are not legally binding.
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