Worldcoin under fresh scrutiny? China warns against crypto-for-iris trend

The Chinese national security agency calls for the growing trend to projects that collect sensitive biometric data such as IRIS analyzes in exchange for digital assets.

In an audience advisory Emitted through its official WeChat account on August 6, the Chinese State (MSS) Ministry of State (MSS) warned that facial data, fingerprints and iris are increasingly harvested in false pretexts, some using cryptographic incentives as bait.

According to the MSS, these practices present serious risks and threats both for privacy and national security. The alert points to previous examples where foreign players have collected iris and facial data under the guise of verification of the identity or distribution of tokens, then transferred this data to unknown purposes.

The agency underlined that this type of data, when poorly managed, could be used to usurp individuals, infiltrate secure facilities or support surveillance and spy operations.

Although the agency has not mentioned a specific entity, the description corresponds closely to Worldcoin, the controversial project which has often been examined with a similar model.

What is Worldcoin, and why is it controversial?

Worldcoin, recently renamed World, was launched in July 2023 by Tools for Humanity, a technological company co -founded by the CEO of Openai, Sam Altman. The project aims to build a global digital identity system called “World ID”, which forces users to check their identity by scanning their iris using a silver sphere device called Orb.

In return, users receive the native token linked to the project, WLD (WLD). Worldcoin claims that its system helps to distinguish humans from online AI and widens financial access, while offering a secure and anonymous means of checking identity.

While World walks like confidentiality, first, he faced a decline in several regions on how he collects and stores biometric data.

Worldcoin and data confidentiality problems

Since its official deployment, Le Monde has sparked global controversy due to the nature of its operations. The Kenyan government was the first to ban the project in September 2023, just a few months after deployment, invoking concerns about the collection and use of citizens’ data.

Shortly after, the office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in Hong Kong judge The fact that Worldcoin violated the order of the city’s personal data, posing risk of privacy. Other regions such as France, Portugal, Spain, Braziland South Korea has also raised similar concerns, and the project was forced to exit Some of these markets under regulatory pressure.

Worldcoin defends its operations by affirming that biometric data is protected through confidentiality preservation technologies as zero knowledge. In October 2024, the platform underwent a to reproach And has launched a new COUSE-2 network, which says priority to compliance with data protection laws.

However, the questions remain on its collection of biometric data and the abusive or unauthorized distribution potential.

Meanwhile, the WLD token was declined. Trading at $ 0.94 at the time of the press, WLD is down almost 45% in the past year and 90% compared to its highest point. The fall in price has been largely fueled by negative regulatory pressure and should emerge from China problems, the token could face the drop further.