The OpenAI CEO’s cryptocurrency project, Worldcoin, recently achieved a significant milestone by amassing a user base of over one million. The World App, Worldcoin’s application for crypto wallets, reported the surge in active users, a tenfold increase from the previous year’s November statistics. The project, launched in mid-2023 by Sam Altman, aims to distribute its WLD token in return for identity verification using biometric iris scans.
Privacy and Universal Basic Income Ambitions
Worldcoin has positioned itself as a champion of privacy-focused digital identity verification and has been distributing its cryptocurrency as an incentive to users participating in its Universal Basic Income initiative. Despite these objectives, the use of its eye-scanning Orbs for identity verification has sparked discussions around the implications for privacy and personal data protection.
Worldcoin’s Response to Regulatory Hurdles
In recent developments, the Privacy Commissioner’s Office in Hong Kong initiated a probe into Worldcoin’s operations, highlighting potential privacy risks and executing search warrants at multiple locations. Beyond Hong Kong, Worldcoin’s privacy practices have led to operational challenges, prompting temporary service suspension in Kenya and the discontinuation of iris scanning in India.
Despite these regulatory challenges, Worldcoin’s value escalated sharply over the past week, with a 141% gain attributed to a broader uptick in the cryptocurrency market. The surge in Worldcoin’s value occurred alongside recent OpenAI updates, including the launch of the new text-to-video generator, Sora, and Sam Altman’s ambitious fundraising goal of $7 trillion for semiconductor chip development.