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Why Americans can’t access Worldcoin?
Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has launched with a token and a "World ID" digital passport.
Worldcoin is a cryptocurrency project that aims to give people a digital identity and a digital currency just for being human. But it’s not for Americans.
The project, co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launched Monday with a token and a “World ID” that works as a digital passport. The project uses a silver ball called the “Orb” to scan people’s irises and create their World IDs.
But Worldcoin’s terms of service say that Americans can’t use, buy or access the tokens. That includes US citizens, residents, anyone in the US, or any companies based or registered in the US.
Still, Worldcoin included some American cities like Miami, San Francisco, and New York City in its “Orb tour,” which is supposed to “educate and answer questions about the protocol and facilitate sign-ups for World ID using the Orb.”
But anyone who does an Orb scan in the US won’t be able to get any tokens, a Worldcoin representative at a New York City pop-up location told Blockworks Monday.
In an open letter, Altman and co-founder Alex Blania said that the token was only available in places where the laws allow it.
“Worldcoin consists of a privacy-preserving digital identity (World ID) and, where laws allow, a digital currency (WLD) received simply for being human,” they wrote. “We hope that, where the rules are less clear, such as in the U.S., steps will be taken so more people can benefit from both.”
Altman and Blania have a big vision for Worldcoin. They think that artificial intelligence will get so good that it will be hard to tell who is human and who is not online. World ID is their way of solving that problem, with Worldcoin as the payment system linked to that identity.
“If successful, we believe Worldcoin could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable global democratic processes, and eventually show a potential path to AI-funded [universal basic income],” they wrote.
When asked on a recent Blockworks podcast episode why not just use government solutions like know-your-customer (KYC) rules, Blania said, “The short answer is you can rely on some governments, or you probably could. The question is then still if you should.”
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“Using government KYC will work for some countries. It will not work for the majority of the world because most countries just don’t have a great identity system,” Blania added.
To get a World ID, users have to agree to an iris scan with the Orb.
The consent form has three options. Disagree (no scan), agree to Orb scan but opt out of data custody (no data stored or transferred), and agree to Orb scan and data custody.
Those who choose the last option agree to have their data stored and sent to “teams in the European Union and the United States.”
