OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s eye scanning crypto venture Worldcoin is coming under scrutiny in Europe after France’s Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, or CNIL, questioned the legality of its biometric data collection.
Founded in 2020, Worldcoin promises customers free crypto and a unique way to prove their personhood online by scanning irises using a shiny metallic orb. On Friday, the CNIL said the company’s biometric data collecting “seems questionable,” as well as its conditions for storing biometric data, the agency said in a statement to Fortune.
The CNIL added that “Worldcoin collected data in France, and the CNIL initiated investigations.”
Worldcoin’s supposed mission is to create a decentralized financial system with the Worldcoin crypto token serving as a means to distribute a universal basic income to people worldwide. This week, Worldcoin and its parent company Tools for Humanity airdropped the first crypto tokens to customers who had scanned their eyes with its orb device. With the rise in generative A.I. the company has also pushed its service as a way for people to confirm online that they are human.
“We are committed to working with our partners globally to ensure that the Worldcoin project meets regulatory requirements and provides a safe, secure, and transparent service for verified humans,” the Worldcoin Foundation said in an emailed statement.
Some have raised privacy concerns about Worldcoin collecting sensitive biometric data from people, but the company claims that a person’s biometric information is not stored. Instead it says the data is converted into a string of letters and numbers called an “IrisCode,” that the company claims cannot be reverse engineered to reconstruct a person’s irises.
The Worldcoin crypto token is not being distributed to U.S.-based users because of regulatory uncertainty regarding crypto. Users in the U.S. can still scan their eyes and create a profile on the platform.
The price of Worldcoin’s cryptocurrency was down less than 1% to $2.17 on Friday morning.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the Worldcoin Foundation.
