Key facts: For developer Noah Kim, concerns around the iris are “the biggest misunderstanding.” Kim argues that the Orb's only function is to scan the iris and verify humanity. Accusations and concerns about the security of biometric data of Worldcoin users are nothing more than a misinterpretation of the controversial cryptocurrency project. This is according to one of its developers, who is the only worker of this project in South Korea. In statements to the local press, Noah Kim, An employee at Tools For Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, stated that the “biggest misunderstanding” around this project is that iris scanning poses a threat to people's privacy since that information is at the mercy of the company. Continuing the project's narrative, he argued that the only function of Worldcoin's Orbs, devices through which people scan their irises, is verifying that someone is a real human being. It alleges that, after obtaining this information, it is encrypted and the rest of the data “is immediately deleted.” Worldcoin is a cryptocurrency project created in 2019, which gained significant traction during 2023. This platform rewards a handful of tokens to users who decide to verify their identity by providing their biometric data. These people receive a type of monthly income, which recently saw red numbers due to the market price correction. According to Kim, iris scanning is the most effective way to verify that users are real human beings. This since facial recognition is not reliable and fingerprints can be manipulated and even erased over time, in his opinion. Thus, using human iris information “is the easiest and fastest way to verify humanity when you have up to 10 billion users,” Kim told The Korea Times. The Worldcoin specialist affirms that people are “reluctant” to this project because the destination of the biometric data has not been clearly explained. He insists in this sense that this initiative “guarantees the anonymity” of people and that the data does not remain in the company.
Noah Dongwan Kim said that misconceptions surrounding data collection, particularly iris scans, are the cryptocurrency project's biggest obstacle. Source: Linkedin.
«An important task»
On the other hand, Noah Kim explained that in current times, due to the sophistication that artificial intelligence has had, distinguishing human and non-human users on the web “is an important task.” “And its importance will only grow,” said the developer. “When we log into certain websites, we often encounter puzzles to verify that we are humans, not robots. But AI is already sophisticated enough to penetrate these processes,” warned the specialist. He then highlighted the Worldcoin project, considering that they are not focused on cryptocurrencies. “What matters to us is global identification,” said Kim. The developer also spoke of the accusations made by the South Korean authorities against Worldcoin. Last March, the Personal Information Protection Commission of the Asian country notified that they would investigate this project in response to a series of complaints related to the collection and processing of personal information. According to Kim, Worldcoin will continue to fully cooperate with the investigation. Along with South Korea, another dozen countries opened investigations against Worldcoin, precisely due to concerns on the management of people's biometric data. There have even been cases where this project has been expelled, such as in Spain, Portugal, Kenya and Hong Kong. The latter, an Asian region that described iris scanning as an excessive, unfair and unnecessary practice, as reported by BitcoinDynamic. Whatever the case, Worldcoin has not stopped expanding. So far, almost 6 million people have had their iris scanned and the project It has a presence in more than 160 countries around the world. Some of them in Latin America, such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico, where privacy alerts have also been raised.