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Sam Altman's Worldcoin experiences a significant blow as Spain halts the tech tycoon's eye-scanning crypto initiative
Sam Altman's Worldcoin, a global crypto scheme that uses eye-scanning, has encountered another obstacle as Spain commands a halt to its activities. Worldcoin's procedure includes scanning and gathering a user's biometric data, a practice that many nations consider to be highly risky.
Earlier this week, Sam Altman's digital currency venture, Worldcoin, encountered a significant hurdle when Spain decided to obstruct the eye-scanning cryptocurrency due to concerns about the extensive amount of data it might amass.
Sam Altman's digital currency project has been caught up in multiple global disputes, primarily because of its intention to collect user's private information through a device called the "orb," which scans the eye.
The Spanish privacy watchdog, AEPD, has commanded Worldcoin to halt the gathering of personal data within the nation immediately and to discontinue the use of any data that it has previously collected.
The AEPD is likely to unveil this "preventive step" shortly. They will also provide Worldcoin with a 72-hour period to show adherence to the directive, according to a report from The Financial Times.
In the previous year, the AEPD voiced its worries about the participation of underage individuals in technology. This led Worldcoin, established by Altman in 2019, to introduce new methods for verifying the age of users. Worldcoin motivates people worldwide to take part by offering its own digital currency tokens in return for their agreement to have their eyes scanned by the orb.
These scans act as a form of identification, designed to create a trustworthy way of differentiating between humans and machines, especially with ongoing progress in artificial intelligence.
The Spanish authority's ruling is yet another blow for Altman, and Worldcoin co-founders Max Novendstern and Alex Blania, who have encountered difficulties globally. Last summer, the startup, based in San Francisco and Berlin, decided not to introduce its digital currency in the United States because of the country's rigorous enforcement in the digital asset industry.
The token of Worldcoin is still not accessible in some of the largest cryptocurrency markets globally, such as China and India. Additionally, countries like Kenya demanded the project to halt its activities last year.
Moreover, the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK has disclosed its plan to scrutinize Worldcoin. While some authorities have raised doubts about the viability of the Worldcoin token, a recent enforcement action in Spain specifically targets the startup's main goal of creating a method to authenticate customers' "personhood". Altman emphasizes this as an essential task in a world where differentiating advanced AI from humans is proving to be difficult.
As scrutiny intensifies, Altman has shown openness to the idea of Worldcoin operating without its own cryptocurrency. Sources in the know claim that Worldcoin has accumulated about 4 million users and roughly $250 million in investments from distinguished supporters. These backers include venture capital entities like Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures, internet businessperson Reid Hoffman, and Sam Bankman-Fried, before his FTX venture fell through.
The project's prominence has attracted media attention and resulted in several customer grievances in Spain, especially as lines started to form at Worldcoin booths in malls where cryptocurrency was being offered for eye scans.
In January, the Basque country's data protection agency issued a caution about the use of eye-scanning technology by Worldcoin in a Bilbao shopping center. They claimed that this technology is subject to biometric data protection rules and requires a risk evaluation.
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