By
Chimamanda U. Martha
April 25th, 2024
Worldcoin’s assertion comes amidst recent developments in Spain, where the country’s financial watchdog, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), issued a ban on Worldcoin’s operations.
Worldcoin, a blockchain-based identity verification start-up has reiterated the legality of its operations across multiple regions. In a blog post, the company revealed essential facts about its mode of operation as well as the rules and regulations guiding it. Although Worldcoin has encountered regulatory hurdles in various jurisdictions, it said it is maintaining its commitment to compliance and adherence to local laws.
Essential Facts about Worldcoin
Worldcoin mentioned in the blog that it does not buy or exchange money for biometric data as its Iris biometrics can not be bought or exchanged for money. Notably, the goal of Worldcoin is to enable universal access to finance and identity. The long-term vision of Worldcoin is to provide a verified digital identity for everyone globally, something it claims has not been possible before.
By providing a verified digital identity, Wordcoin aims to tackle economic inequality by enabling equitable participation in the global digital economy. Worldcoin revolves around World ID, a global identity network that preserves privacy. Through World ID, individuals can prove that they are real humans on any platform integrated with the protocol.
Meanwhile, the general principle is to use iris scans based on specialized hardware (the Orb device) to generate unique identifiers called World IDs. When a person registers via the Orb, it scans their iris and generates a numeric code called an IrisHash, which uniquely represents the characteristics of that person’s iris.
The IrisHash is compared against a database on the blockchain to verify that the person has not registered before. If they are new, a World ID linked to that IrisHash is generated.
However, Worldcoin’s assertion comes amidst recent developments in Spain, where the country’s financial watchdog, the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), issued a ban on Worldcoin’s operations. The CNMV cited concerns over Worldcoin’s lack of authorization to provide investment services or carry out activities related to securities within Spain.
Worldcoin Milestone Achieved aespite Regulatory Scrutiny
Recall that Worldcoin achieved a major milestone toward the end of 2023 with 4 million app downloads on iOS and Android app stores. The digital identity project launched officially in July 2023 in about 20 countries.
Afterward collecting the user’s Iris scans, it issues rewards with its native WLD token post-verification. Meanwhile, the milestone comes hard on the heels of criticism received by the project from several quarters. Chief among concerns about the project is an alleged lack of transparency regarding data collection and storage methods.
In Germany, France, South Korea, Argentina, and the United Kingdom, authorities have either voiced concerns about Worldcoin or launched inquiries into its activities. Elsewhere in Kenya, a parliamentary committee investigating the project has recommended shutting down the startup’s activities in the country.
Despite the scrutiny, Worldcoin decided to spread its tentacles. Presently, the company has expanded to Mexico and Singapore, while making plans to bring its operations to more countries in Asia.