Worldcoin launches digital ID, proof of personhood in Germany

Worldcoin’s plans for a global, accessible biometric identity network have taken another step toward the company’s particular utopia, with the launch of sign-ups for its World ID credential and crypto wallet in Germany.

“As the largest economy in the EU helps lead the way in developing AI tools in Europe,” says a company blog post, “World ID will make it easier for Germany’s 60+ million adult citizens to digitally prove their uniqueness and humanness online through its AI-safe proof of personhood (PoP) credential.”

Worldcoin’s tool for measuring humanness is called the Orb, a custom-built, spheroid biometric imaging device that captures multiple iris scans to create a unique “iris code” for each individual. (The company has lengthy but thorough breakdowns of its full technology stack on its site.) The Orb will be stationed at verification locations around Berlin, which Worldcoin urges users to find by following them on social media, or downloading an app developed by its parent company, Tools for Humanity.

Tools for Humanity recently secured significant investment from several crypto firms, and hired Twitter’s former VP of global communications, Rebecca Hahn. They join Worldcoin Co-founder and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (who also created ChatGPT) in the mission to create an anonymized digital identity for every person on Earth, using iris scans conducted via the Orb. The $115 million in Series C funding comes after a March 2022 injection of $100 million, from investors that included FTX crypto exchange founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

The company says its World ID product has already collected 1.93 million biometric credentials.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  Germany  |  iris biometrics  |  proof of personhood  |  Worldcoin