The $3 Billion Utopian Concept, Worldcoin's Sociological Experiment

Jiawei

2022-03-29 22:00

Read this article in 12 Minutes

Today, Worldcoin Operators use Orb to distribute cryptocurrency to people.

Original title: "The "Eye" of Encryption: Worldcoin is promoting a sociological experiment"

Original author: Jiawei (Twitter: @Elegy4TheArctic)

According to tripleA’s estimation, by 2021, there will be Over 300 million cryptocurrency users with an average ownership rate of 3.9%.

In this context, Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman, the former CEO of the famous Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator, has a pure and somewhat crazy vision: launch "a New, collectively owned global currency, equitably distributed to as many people as possible”; “connecting the first billion users in an encrypted network shared by everyone”.

It is called "crazy" because it took 13 years for Bitcoin to pass the milestone of 300 million users .

But the Worldcoin team made an irresistible reason: "Revolutionary new technologies such as blockchain and cryptography can allow us to jointly do things that even governments What cannot be done - increasing individual empowerment and equality of opportunity globally".

Such a romantic narrative naturally attracted some top VCs:

Last year 6 In March, Worldcoin raised $25 million at a $1 billion valuation, with participation from Digital Currency Group, Coinbase Ventures, a16z, Multicoin Capital, and angel investors including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried . At the end of March this year, Worldcoin raised US$100 million in financing at a valuation of US$3 billion, and a16z continued to increase.

However, such a long road will inevitably encounter some obstacles-the primary problem of large-scale distribution is: how to distribute Tokens to real "people", rather than code or machines? How to avoid repeated claims by the same person? Namely, how do you prove it's you without doing any KYC?

The answer given by Worldcoin is the encrypted eye - "Orb".

The Orb

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A thousand years ago, gypsies used crystal balls to predict the future; today, Worldcoin Operators use Orb to issue cryptocurrency to people.

The Orb, which looks like an eyeball, is actually an iris recognition device, chrome-plated, about the size of a volleyball; designed by Swedish industrial designer Thomas Meyerhoffer (previously for Apple and Porsche).

Its main function is to capture the human eye image and convert it into a unique IrisHash. Orb first scans the QR code on the user's mobile phone, then captures multiple high-resolution multispectral iris images, and calculates a unique IrisHash from the images, and finally a set of custom security sensors ensures that the registration is legitimate.

Wolrdcoin has not yet been officially launched and is only being tested on a small scale in some underdeveloped regions. Currently, Wolrdcoin has 25 Operators in countries and regions such as Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia, running a total of more than 30 devices. The scale of these tests is expected to grow even further as hundreds of devices and Orb Operators go live in the coming months.

Ideally, approximately 4,000 devices per month will be distributed after the Orb production phase rolls out. Currently, it has scanned 450,000 people in about 20 countries, and a single device can attract about 700 new users per week on average.

Worldcoin estimates that 20-30 million new users will sign up by the end of this year.

Dilemma

Although Orb does not require personal information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers, biometric information collection is obviously more sensitive. In Worldcoin's established scheme, after the eye image is collected, it is hashed to generate a unique identifier, and then the eye image is permanently deleted. And use the open source Semaphore zero-knowledge proof system to enhance privacy protection.

But this still led to some criticism. Opponents argue that while the idea of Worldcoin sounds utopian, it is actually dystopian: a distribution model that relies on extremely sensitive biometric data undermines the spirit of anonymity behind cryptocurrencies.

The uniqueness of biometrics lies in its uniqueness. If the credit card number is leaked, you can apply for a new credit card; but if the iris information is leaked, you cannot replace it with a new one iris. Moreover, biometrics may not be able to completely prevent fraud, and those who forge human irises or use animal irises may get away with it.

In addition, a series of novel keywords such as encryption currency and eye image collection, combined with being a "pie falling from the sky", may make The general public is confused: Is this a scam? Or from a regulatory perspective, is Worldcoin's biometric data collection compliant?

Furthermore, the amount of Worldcoin each person receives depends on how early they are in the project. This means that as more people join, latecomers get a smaller amount (roughly in the $10-$200 range). The payment will be released over two years, with only 10% available for immediate use. Users can't help but ask: exchange their highly sensitive biological data for potentially worthless Token Is it worth it?

To sum up, Worldcoin’s proposed growth of 20 to 30 million users this year may be a bit too optimistic.

Experiment

The definition of sociological experiment is "according to the research hypothesis drawn up in advance, by taking a certain measure or exerting a certain influence on the research object, to observe, record, analyze, to discover or confirm causal relationship between variables or social phenomena".

As a spectator, we have no way of knowing the profit model of Wolrdcoin, but at least the story is attractive-we might as well regard it as a sociological experiment.

Wolrdcoin said: "Nothing like this has ever been done before and the outcome is uncertain".

This sentence coincides with the end of "Later to be a teacher": As for the success or failure, it is beyond the ability of the minister to see.

Despite the challenges, the goal of "bringing a billion users to the cryptocurrency world" is certainly worth fighting for. Ultimately successful or not, if cryptocurrencies are to achieve mass adoption in the future, Worldcoin has at least left a valuable footprint on that path.