- Worldcoin launched its native token WLD on its mainnet on July 24, 2023.
- The crypto project has faced serious criticism from several quarters for fears of data privacy.
- The latest development is the Worldcoin suspension in Kenya because of what the government says are security concerns.
According to a Reuters report, Worldcoin intends to broaden its operations so that businesses and governments can make use of its iris-scanning and identity-verification technology to attract more users.
In the report, Ricardo Macieira, the general manager for Europe at Tools For Humanity, which is the company that created Worldcoin, said that the company is on a mission of “building the biggest financial and identity community” possible.
Macieira said, “The idea is that as we build this infrastructure and that we allow other third parties to use the technology.” He went ahead to add “The idea is that anyone can in the future build their own orb and use it to benefit the community that it’s aiming for.”
Plans to open-source the Orbs technology
To enable broader use of Worldcoin’s products, Macieria added that the company intends to open source the technology that powers the iris-scanning orbs. This will be a huge step towards countering difficulties in attracting users.
However, although reports about Worldcoin’s difficulties attracting users after its launch have recently gone around, Sam Altman, a co-founder of the project, has refuted those allegations in posts on X that include videos of people waiting in line for iris scans.
In the report, Macieira has also gone ahead to explain Worldcoin intends for companies and governments to pay to use its digital identity system. This will allow the institutions to implement some sort of localized system without having to gather personal data.
However, it is not clear how Worldcoin intends to circumvent the regulatory framework around the world, especially seeing that its data collection methods have already come under scrutiny from regulators around the world.
France’s privacy watchdog said that it finds the project “questionable,” while German regulators launched investigations into Worldcoin’s operations back in 2022. Regulators in the UK are also considering opening an inquiry into Worldcoin. And in Kenya where the project had received such a huge reception, the government has slumped the door citing security concerns.
