Worldcoin waves in more applications for expanded grant program

Worldcoin has shifted their grant program to fund innovation in its World ID project, decentralized identity and growth initiatives, says a release from the biometrics firm.

The key change is transitioning the grant program for innovation from a periodic structure to a “dynamic, continuous application system” designed to attract more proposals and streamline the application process. “No more waiting for specific grant waves,” says the release. “Applicants can now submit proposals at any time throughout the year.”

Other changes include rolling reviews for quicker turnaround on application results, an updated RFP list that “reflects the latest needs in the Worldcoin Tech Tree Stack,” and the introduction of “new categories” into the Worldcoin Foundation’s sphere of interest.

The firm, a project of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, has lately been looking beyond its initial iris-biometrics-for-crypto model, pushing its World Chain blockchain and piloting face biometrics for authenticating its World ID digital identity. A recent announcement says the “Face Auth feature uses a reference image captured by the Orb during the user’s initial verification and stored only on the user’s own device, and encrypted with their World ID key.”

Worldcoin and its parent company, Tools for Humanity (TFH) have also been making efforts to note their commitment to privacy, publishing a policy white paper that outlines four core privacy principles of security, anonymity, choice and control and transparency.

And its biometrics-scanning Orb devices keep popping up in new countries, recently rolling out in Poland, Malaysia and Guatemala.

Even so, the firm continues to be dogged by worried privacy regulators – for instance, in South Korea, where Worldcoin is facing a number of fines for collecting biometric information without a legal basis for processing, and failing to provide adequate info on purpose and retention, putting it in violation of the country’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The fines are not large by tech tycoon standards – a little over a billion won, or around US$840,300, between Worldcoin and TFH.

Still, the situation speaks to Worldcoin’s ongoing struggle to convince international regulators that it has anything but good intentions. Singapore’s privacy watchdog is hovering, keeping a close eye on Worldcoin’s activities. And South American regulators recently raised objections to the company’s privacy and biometric collection practices in Colombia and Argentina.

One day Worldcoin might stop triggering red flags for data privacy officials. For now, it remains numerically successful – as of September, more than 93,000 South Koreans have downloaded Worldcoin’s World App – but has yet to win the trust of biometrics authorities.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  decentralized ID  |  digital ID  |  investment  |  iris biometrics  |  Tools for Humanity  |  World  |  World ID