World partners to deploy biometric orbs in Japan

World continues its worldwide expansion. Japan’s Medirom Healthcare Technologies, through a collaboration with Hakuhodo Inc., is joining forces with the biometric proof-of-human protocol co-founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman. 

Hakuhodo is the flagship domestic partner for World’s expansion in Japan, in charge of planning and operational support through a partnership with Tools for Humanity announced last December. The marketing agency will help tailor the World experience to Japanese users.

The new Medirom deal aims to accelerate adoption of World ID, touted as a privacy-preserving digital credential that verifies users are authentic humans rather than AI bots, by integrating it into Medirom’s Re.Ra.Ku relaxation salon chain. 

Medirom will begin installing the iris scanning Orbs, World’s dedicated biometric authentication device, across its Re.Ra.Ku network. The first deployments are expected later this year, with installations targeting about 100 salons by the end of December and 500,000 new World IDs to be issued annually to salon visitors. 

Tools for Humanity, the San Francisco-based organization co-founded by Alex Blania and Sam Altman, will supply the underlying World technology and oversee platform operations and security. The Re.Ra.Ku Group operates more than 300 relaxation salons across Japan under six brands, all of which fall under Medirom ownership. These include storefronts, spas found in hot spring facilities and rural reflexology centers, giving the brand a wide retail footprint across Japan.

This summer, World celebrated Year Two since its launch, marking more than 14 million verified unique humans and over 30 million users in total of its World app, which has supported more than 500 million transactions. However, World has been facing regulatory scrutiny in markets across the world, including Germany, Indonesia and Kenya. 

In China’s Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, World was ordered to cease operations after its Privacy Commissioner concluded the company runs afoul of local data privacy regulations. World offices across the city were raided by the privacy watchdog. 

On the mainland meanwhile, China’s authorities recenty warned about the dangers of sharing biometric information, such as iris data, with foreign companies in exchange for cryptocurrency, seemingly referring to World. The company allows users to claim some of its WLD digital coins after scanning their irises. 

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  iris biometrics  |  Japan  |  World  |  World ID  |  World ID Orb