Worldcoin runs into real-world problems

The billion-dollar startup, which wants to distribute cryptocurrency to every human being by imaging their eyes, recently suspended operations in at least seven countries. It’s now delayed its launch date for a second time.

Why should we care?
Worldcoin has struggled with an issue shared by many crypto-based initiatives: how to verify that it’s sending money to real human beings. “Proof of humanity” efforts have chosen different paths, and Worldcoin’s troubled biometric-forward strategy may be a warning message to others. Using (dystopian) orb-shaped scanners, Worldcoin’s contractors—known as “orb operators”—have collected images of hundreds of thousands of people’s eyes. The contractors are paid per person they register, which has led to local corruption as well as scammy onboarding processes that fail to explain the privacy implications of this work. Subjects who were told they’d receive money in exchange for their eye scan have yet to receive any material benefit from the process, leading to understandably disgruntled users who think they were exploited, as well as an increasingly damaged reputation for Worldcoin in many communities. “You can't play around with such personal information,” wrote one user who had their eyes scanned by an orb operator. “I’m coming after you if I don’t see any benefits from whatever you made us sign up for.” After such a turbulent launch, it’s hard to see how Worldcoin will get off the ground and successfully unite billions of people around its singular economic vision. Facebook proved long ago that a “move-fast-and-break-things” ethos doesn’t work; crypto is no different.