French data protection regulator investigating recently launched Worldcoin

The French data protection regulator CNIL is looking into the recently launched Worldcoin (WLD) cryptocurrency project started by Sam Altman of OpenAI, for “questionable” practices.

Regarding Worldcoin’s practice of scanning retinas to ensure that no single person can claim cryptocurrency rewards more than once, a CNIL spokesperson wrote in a written statement that “the legality of this [data] collection seems questionable, as do the conditions for the preservation of biometric data.”

According to the spokesperson, “CNIL has launched investigations,” supporting the efforts of the primary EU-responsible Bavarian privacy regulators.

Worldcoin run-ins with regulators

It is not only in France where the newly launched cryptocurrency project caused concerns. The launch of Worldcoin also angered privacy watchdogs in the UK, where the Information Commissioner’s Office has warned that people must freely give their consent to the processing of their personal data and be able to withdraw it without penalty.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also raised concerns about data piracy and security, although noted that the world is in need of a proof-of-personhood system. Buterin worries that Worldcoin Orbs could gather far more information than initially appears, such as a person’s sex, ethnicity, and even specific medical conditions.

However, Worldcoin’s supporters claim that it could spread cryptocurrency more widely than Bitcoin (BTC).