Last week, while attending the EthGlobal Hackathon in Turkey, I was going over most of the sponsors to learn what the companies provide to the W3 ecosystem.
Worldcoin was one of the sponsors and as many of you may be aware, there has been some controversy around this project, so I decided to do my own research by attending a workshop to better understand what they do.
The project is launching a UBI for everyone enrolling. This is not new in the crypto space, I have joined other similar projects in the past as Mannabase or Gooddollar, these projects' basic model is generating value and giving it away to users. One of their main challenge is to avoid abuse making sure every account created belongs to a human, so bots can not create multiple accounts and benefit from the currency distribution. Mannabase started human verification requesting you to write your phone number, later they partnered with BrightId to verify humanity, and other projects used different methods. Worldcoin decided to use Iris scan to verify you are human.
The idea is unique from the technical standpoint, but the controversy comes from those not happy with a private company collecting your private biometric data. I agree we are far away from knowing what a company can do with that data, it is quite possible that several governments already own your iris data if you have traveled and crossed passport control at an airport. So this is not new. Do I trust Worldcoin? not too much but I do not trust the government at all, so to me there is no big difference in that sense.
On the other hand, the idea of a UBI given away to every human is quite interesting compared to other blockchain projects which only search for founders' and investors' profitability so I decided to stop by the booth to enroll.
The process is quite straightforward. Download the WorldID app, and scan your iris, the system creates your private key out of your biometric data and you get your first WLD coins in your wallet which run on Optimism L2 chain, so you can send them to a DEX and cash that right away if you wish to do so. I got 10 WRLD and have gotten 2 additional 3WLD drops since I enrolled, which makes a total of $40 at the current WLD token price which has gone up 40% in the last month. I have not gone through the exchange process but I will try sometime.
The project is spreading throughout the world but some countries as Kenya are considering banning it for privacy reasons, and US citizens cannot use it according to the project terms, the same way US citizens cannot access many other crypto projects and tokens. My personal view is Uncle Sam is acting on the government's behalf and now their citizens, as they are leaving them away of opportunities while there are many other allowed stuff such as gambling, betting, or shitty food which have proven harmful for society but are allowed for anyone.
I would like to see how the project evolves, you can do your own research starting from the workshop video they offered at EthGlobal last week. You can check on their webpage for a reseller near you if you plan to give it a try, as you need to physically stop by to have your iris scanned.
