Worldcoin Pauses Eye-Scanning ID Verification in Several Countries to Address Regulations
-
Worldcoin is no longer offering its Orb eye-scanning service for identity verification in India, Brazil, and France after expanding to those markets earlier this year.
-
The nonprofit Tools for Humanity, which oversees Worldcoin, said the services were pulled back due to wanting to meet regulatory requirements and provide a safe, secure and transparent service.
-
The Orb scans eyeballs to verify identity, similar to India's Aadhaar biometric ID system. Worldcoin started rolling out the Orb globally in April 2022.
-
Worldcoin raised around $250 million from top investors like a16z and Reid Hoffman and aims to distinguish humans from bots online.
-
While the Orb is no longer available in some markets, Worldcoin's app continues onboarding people in India and expanded integrations with services like Reddit and Shopify.