The privacy and security risks of biometric IDs demand builders consider modular privacy applications or face real-world vulnerabilities.
Opinion by Ankur Rakhi Sinha, co-founder and CEO of Airchains.
Having faced fines and lawsuits worldwide, the charges against Worldcoin (which became known as “World” in late October 2024) are all the same: a systemic failure to protect user data. Worldcoin, founded in 2019 by Sam Altman of OpenAI fame, asks users to verify their humanness through iris and face scans in exchange for a digital ID and free tokens. Multiple governments have blocked their activities for violating local privacy laws.
There are laws and regulations to protect users and their data, but they are only ever enforced after the breach occurs. Blockchain adoption for real-world use cases hinges on privacy. Worldcoin proved why we can’t build a plane while flying it.
