Worldcoin halts Orb-verification in India, Brazil, and France for now
What Now With Worldcoin After Sam Altman's Departure From OpenAI?
Worldcoin recently stopped offering Orb-verification in India, Brazil, and France, only months after launching the scanning device in these markets. Founders of Indian crypto startups speculate that regulatory challenges might have led to this abrupt halt.
How does the Orb work?
The Orb actively scans individuals’ eyeballs to verify identities. It employs advanced technology to capture a detailed image of the iris, the eye’s colored part, and converts this image into a unique cryptographic hash, representing the person’s eyes. This quick, non-invasive process uses the unique iris patterns, akin to fingerprints, to generate a distinct cryptographic hash. This hash acts as a digital identifier, ensuring each person’s unique presence in Worldcoin‘s system.
With privacy as a cornerstone, the Orb doesn’t retain actual iris images. It transforms these images into a cryptographic hash, safeguarding personal biometric data from storage and breaches and preserving privacy.
After the Orb verifies an individual’s identity through the iris scan, it integrates this data into Worldcoin’s platform. Users gain access to various services, including cryptocurrency transactions and participation in decentralized applications.
The Orb’s main objective is to distinguish real human users from bots or duplicate accounts. This distinction is vital for applications like online voting and digital wallets, where identity verification is crucial.
About Worldcoin
Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, aims for a global deployment of these devices. This expansion is especially important in regions lacking traditional ID forms. Having raised approximately $250 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, and Reid Hoffman, Worldcoin’s mission is to separate humans from AI online, support global democracy, and increase economic opportunities. The startup launched its identity technology and token worldwide, encouraging the use of World App and Orb for acquiring World IDs.
