Worldcoin – the eyeball-scanning cryptocurrency project co-founded by Sam Altman – launched worldwide on Monday, says Hannah Miller on Bloomberg. Everywhere, that is, except the US, where regulators are cracking down on digital assets. Worldcoin, like Altman, co-founder of artificial intelligence (AI) company OpenAI, “straddles the worlds of AI and crypto”. Users are given a unique digital identity, called a World ID, after scanning their eyes with a device called an “orb”. Only once they have gained “proof of personhood” can they acquire a coin. Digital verification is essential, say the founders, at a time when it is becoming harder to distinguish between human creations and those of AI. However, the project has been accused of exploitative practices in some countries, such as Indonesia, while some original backers, including Sam…
