Details are slowly emerging about a new startup, Worldcoin, that aims to launch a new cryptocurrency that it would distribute to people in exchange for their eye scans. The futuristic-sounding idea has attracted major supporters in Silicon Valley, including Y Combinator president Sam Altman, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Day One Ventures.
But while information is still coming to light about Worldcoin, cryptography and privacy experts are already poking holes in its main premise.
Bloomberg uncovered the nascent startup’s plans, which seem to involve launching a cryptocurrency that everyone in the world could have a share in. The idea appears to be inspired by the concept of universal basic income, or direct, no-strings-attached payments to people, usually distributed by the government. And the startup wants to deliver this currency by building orb-shaped devices that convert scans of peoples’ eyes into unique numerical identifiers in order to make sure a person is a legitimate recipient of the payment and isn’t trying to sign up more than once. An online job posting for Worldcoin cited by Bloomberg noted the startup hoped to build “a dedicated hardware device ensuring both humanness and uniqueness of everybody signing up, while maintaining their privacy and the overall transparency of a permissionless blockchain.”
The company is already testing a prototype of its eye-scanning device in several cities (volunteers are being paid primarily in bitcoin for now) and has at least $25 million in funding, according to Bloomberg. The company’s leaders seem to think its biometric-data tracking device would prevent a person from registering for multiple Worldcoin payments. Overall, the startup wants to power a new cryptocurrency that the entire globe can access, and which could be disbursed to almost anyone — although they would apparently have to agree to let Worldcoin scan their irises.
But some privacy and cryptocurrency advocates are already warning that the plan, as utopian as it might sound, has dystopian implications. They say Worldcoin’s reliance on biometric technology is unnecessary and could lead to major privacy problems. They’re warning that the nascent proposal is a solution in search of a problem, and that its plan to rely on people’s incredibly sensitive biometric data undermines the pseudonymous spirit behind cryptocurrencies.
Biometric data is so sensitive because it uses a person’s physical characteristics, like their fingerprints, their irises, or their faces, to identify them. Biometrics proponents say using body parts to identify people can be more secure and can stop fraud. But critics have pointed out that biometric identification systems can have built-in biases, and also require collecting highly sensitive information that can’t be replaced should a malicious actor get hold of that data. “If your Social Security number leaks, you can get a new Social Security number. If your credit card number leaks, you can get a new credit card number,” Evan Greer, the deputy director of the digital rights group Fight for the Future, told Recode last year. “If a biometric scan of your face leaks, you can’t get a new face.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Finance World staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
