China Sounds Alarm on Iris Scans—Is Worldcoin’s Crypto Utopia a Privacy Nightmare?

Beijing just dropped a regulatory hammer on biometric data collection—and Worldcoin’s orb-scanning frenzy is squarely in the crosshairs. The crypto project promising free tokens for eyeball scans now faces its toughest critic yet: a superpower with zero tolerance for privacy loopholes.

### The Eye-Pay Dilemma

Worldcoin’s pitch was straight out of cyberpunk fiction: verify humanity, collect crypto. But when a government that runs facial recognition at every street corner calls your security model risky, even Bitcoin maxis pause mid-meme. The project’s ‘proof-of-personhood’ tech suddenly looks less like innovation and more like a liability.

### Regulatory Roulette

China’s warning shot echoes global skepticism—from EU data watchdogs to Kenyan police raids. Yet WLD token holders keep betting those iris scans will somehow dodge the compliance bullet. Because nothing says ‘sound investment’ like a coin that repurposes dystopian surveillance for airdrops.

### The Bottom Line

Worldcoin’s survival now hinges on rewriting the rules of biometrics—or watching its tokenomics implode faster than a Celsius withdrawal queue. In crypto, privacy is either the ultimate selling point or the SEC’s next Exhibit A. Place your bets.

Worldcoin suspected

While the Chinese ministry avoided directly naming the company, the description closely aligns with Worldcoin, which has now been rebranded as World.

The project scans users’ irises in return for WLD tokens, a practice already under investigation in multiple jurisdictions.

Over the past year, the Sam Altman-backed company has recorded significant growth by scanning the irises of more than 10 million people worldwide. At the same time, the firm has also expanded into countries like the United States and Malaysia.

However, its operations have triggered regulatory scrutiny in Colombia, Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Indonesia.

Authorities in those regions have raised red flags over data protection violations, non-compliance with privacy laws, and a lack of transparency.

Meanwhile, Worldcoin has continued to stress its commitment to legal compliance, hashed data, and the high standards of its users’ privacy protection.