• Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency pet project of OpenAI’s Sam Altman has received bans in Hong Kong, Kenya, Spain, and Portugal.
• The company is being investigated over allegations that it doesn’t properly inform participants what it will be doing with their private information.
• Despite this, nearly five million people in 120 countries have signed up for Worldcoin.

One of the most bizarre things to come out of tech in the last few years are the eye-ball scanning, crypto-giving silver orbs of Worldcoin, a pet project of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, that aims to give all humans “access to the global economy.”

Weeks following its launch in Kenya in 2023, one of Africa’s most developed cryptocurrency markets, Kenyan authorities raided a Worldcoin warehouse and ceased several of the company’s silver orbs.

Kenyan lawmakers said that the process of paying a user 25 Worldcoin or around $41 at the time after you scan your eyes is essentially paying users for their biometric data, and that didn’t sit well with them.

Kenya was one of the first nations that Worldcoin launched sign-ups, and now has been barred from operating in the East African nation.

Worldcoin receives bans in four countries

Now in 2024, Worldcoin has also been banned for similar concerns around privacy and biometric data protections in Hong Kong, Spain and Portugal

Hong Kong was the most recent region to look to cull Worldcoin operations. The Office of the Principal Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) ordered the cryptomaker to close its doors in Hong Kong due to an ongoing investigation into the company.

An investigation is underway into Worldcoin’s operations due to fears that user information given to Worldcoin may become compromised. The investigation, according to CryptoNews, found that participants were not warned of certain issues around scanning their eyes to receive Worldcoin tokens.

Allegedly, the firm was asking participants to permit some companies to gain access to their facial and iris data. Around 8 300 people went through the process in Hong Kong, and the PCPD says that the data was accumulated “incorrectly.”

March saw Worldcoin receiving suspension notices in Spain and Portugal, as both the Iberian nations looked to pull away from potential privacy issues. The Spanish government’s data protection agency said that “biometric data… entails high risks for people’s rights, taking into account their sensitive nature,” as per Reuters.

Like in Hong Kong, Spanish authorities too said they had receive reports that Worldcoin was using personal information from participants in ways they were not immediately informed of. It also apparently received complaints that the company is keeping information on minors.

Meanwhile, more than 300 000 people in Portugal have signed up for the company and submitted biometric data. That country’s own data regulator is embarking on a similar mission, receiving similar complaints that participants did not receive adequate information about how their data was going to be used.

Both Spain and Portugal enacted three-month bans on the crypto firm.

Officially, Worldcoin says that nearly five million people from 120 countries have submitted data to sign up for the token and a digital ID. Altman is set to continue operations, now looking to partner Worldcoin with the likes of PayPal, and his other company OpenAI.