Worldcoin faces regulatory scrutiny amid community backlash on privacy concerns

Worldcoin’s (WLD) recent launch has drawn Britain’s regulatory scrutiny amid community concerns over its privacy issues.

Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) acknowledged the project’s launch, adding that the regulatory body would inquire further about its operations.

ICO has yet to respond to CryptoSlate’s request for comment at the time of writing.

Worldcoin, the Sam Altman-backed digital identity project, launched on July 24 after over three years of development. The project’s team stated that it was established to create a new identity and financial network for everyone.

However, crypto community members have heavily criticized its reliance on biometric data to verify identities. Worldcoin requires an individual to scan their Iris via one of its Orbs to confirm that they are human.

Criticisms pour in for Worldcoin.

One of Worldcoin’s critics was Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin who wrote that the extensive database of biometric information collected on the Orbs poses a significant security risk.

According to Buterin, Worldcoin has four major problems, which include privacy, accessibility, centralization, and security issues.

Chris Blec, a decentralization advocate, wrote that the crypto project was taking advantage of people’s inability “to critically think about why they shouldn’t be exchanging their retina scan for a few dollars worth of absolute sh*tcoin.”

An American real estate investor, Chris Gammon, also shared this view, saying people’s “cherished biometric data is the product.”

Meanwhile, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT stated that a black market has emerged for Worldcoin accounts, with people trading for as low as $1.

WLD price crashes

Worldcoin’s WLD token crashed by more than 25% during the last 24 hours to $2.19, according to CryptoSlate’s data, after the hype surrounding it began to fade.

Community members have questioned its tokenomics as most of its 10 billion WLD tokens will be unlocked over the next 15 years. The DeFi Investor said:

“Worldcoin is another VC-backed project with predatory tokenomics.”

A commentator described Worldcoin as a scam project with sketchy tokenomics and backdoor deals.

ZachXBT further pointed out that insider allocations were increased to 25% from 20% after its launch.

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