#WorldCoin. $WLD faces bans worldwide amid increasing privacy fears
The increasing adoption of Worldcoin, an AI-centric identification project with its own cryptocurrency, is alarming privacy advocates and regulators.
According to the project, over 5 million people have already lined up to stare into a silver sphere the size of a bowling ball and scan their irises.
In addition to receiving online ID verification, users are rewarded 25 WLD, worth about $115.
As of April 11, over 10 million people had signed up for Worldcoinâs World App.
Sam Altman, founder of Worldcoin and CEO of OpenAI, claimed that the project aims to create âa global financial and identity network based on proof of personhood,â which is essential for an era where artificial intelligence is commonplace.
However, since its inception, Altmanâs startup has received significant backlash from influential privacy advocates, including American whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Despite using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, the project has received lukewarm support from the crypto community.Â
Vahan P. Roth, an executive board member at Swissgrams AG, said Worldcoin âblatantly contradicts the central ethos of cryptocurrencies â the core principles of anonymity and decentralization on which Bitcoin and its peers were founded.â
On top of that, regulators in several countries have begun to ban the project outright, fearing that this collection of biometric data could be a critical threat to privacy.
Is Worldcoinâs biometric data collection a real threat to privacy, or do people just misunderstand the companyâs goal?
Biometric data is the holy grail of personal info
Data breaches and sales of stolen data online are already a fact of life.
However, an online biometric data record is more concerning due to its sensitive and highly personal nature.