Colombia’s Watchdog Accuses Worldcoin of Violating Personal Data Protection Regime

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Colombia’s leading consumer protection agency has accused the biometric cryptocurrency initiative Worldcoin and its parent company Tools for Humanity of potentially violating the country’s laws on personal data protection.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) stated that the purpose of their investigation is to determine whether the parties involved have breached Colombian laws on personal data protection by collecting sensitive personal information.

If found guilty, the SIC may impose penalties such as fines or sanctions.

These could include a six-month suspension of Worldcoin’s operations or even a permanent shutdown of activities that involve the collection of sensitive data. The project was co-founded by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

It assigns “World IDs” to individuals who scan their irises using an Orb device as a way to verify their identity. Participants are rewarded with WLD tokens, a form of cryptocurrency. According to Worldcoin’s website, over 6.5 million people have signed up for the project globally.