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Worldcoin in Asia: Overview and Outlook

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Worldcoin in Asia: Overview and Outlook

Privacy concerns over sensitive data collection

Jay Jo
and
Yoon Lee
Sep 14, 2023
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Worldcoin in Asia: Overview and Outlook

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한국어 리포트 링크


TL;DR

  • Worldcoin is gaining popularity around the world, with the most interest coming from Asian countries including India, Indonesia, Australia, and Japan (32% of all users in the pre-launch phase of Worldcoin).

  • This is because of the following reasons:

    • The Asian region includes many developing countries with low per capita income levels.

    • There is a high level of understanding and interest in cryptocurrencies in major Asian countries.

    • There are many exchanges in Asia that people can use to cash out Worldcoin.

  • While there are ongoing privacy violation investigations in Western countries over the collection of biometric data by Worldcoin, there has been no significant regulatory intervention in Asia as of yet. However, with the steady increase in the number of users, it is possible that major Asian countries will start to enforce privacy laws against Worldcoin in the near future.


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Introduction

아르헨티나, 월드코인 불법 여부 조사 착수 | 블록미디어
Argentinian citizens using the Worldcoin orb, Source: Worldcoin

Worldcoin, which officially launched in July 2023, continues to attract a lot of attention. Argentina set a new record of nearly 10,000 Worldcoin registrants within a single day, a testament to the hype of the project. There are about 120 countries where users have created Worldcoin IDs, and 34 countries where users have authenticated their iris information through the “Orb”, a biometric data collection machine provided by Worldcoin.

Number of new Worldcoin wallets created by date (excluding pre-launch wallets) Source: Worldcoin Dune analytics
Cumulative number of Worldcoin wallets created by date (excluding pre-launch wallets) Source: Worldcoin Dune analytics

Asia’s interest in Worldcoin

As such, Worldcoin is growing in a global scale and gaining popularity around the world. The Asian market in particular has shown significant interest. In fact, during the pre-launch phase of Worldcoin (May 2021 - July 2023), Asia was the region with the most users, accounting for approximately 32%.

Source: Worldcoin

Asian interest in Worldcoin has continued to grow since its official launch in July 2023. A look at the regional traffic to the official Worldcoin project page over the past three months shows that the Asia-Pacific region accounts for approximately 29% of the traffic. In addition to these figures, we can also see a glimpse of the enthusiasm for Worldcoin at the offline Worldcoin biometric enrollment site in Japan in July this year.

Worldcoin official website (PC, Mobile) traffic by region for the last 3 months, Source: SimilarWeb
Top 10 (PC, Mobile) Traffic sources to Worldcoin official site from Asia in the last 3 months, Source: SimilarWeb

When we look at the breakdown of Worldcoin traffic in Asia, we see that India, Indonesia, Australia, and Japan have the most interest, in that order. There are three possible reasons why these Asian countries are so enthusiastic about Worldcoin.

First, the Asian region is home to many developing countries with low per capita income levels, so a project that provides a basic income is bound to attract attention. The Worldcoin project gives users 25 Worldcoins when they go through their initial iris verification, which is equivalent to one-fifth of the average monthly salary in India.

Second, there are many countries in Asia with a high rate of crypto-savvy population. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • India, which recently lifted its ban on crypto

  • Indonesia, which has established a government-led crypto exchange

  • Japan, where the government is trying to revitalize the crypto industry

  • Hong Kong, which has opened its crypto market

Lastly, Asia has the most exchanges where you can trade and cash out your Worldcoin for fiat currency. South Korea, Turkey, and Thailand are a few examples.

Countries and exchanges that support Worldcoin fiat trading, Source: CoinMarketCap

Global concerns about Worldcoin

However, there are also some concerns regarding the project. The UK, France, and Germany have launched investigations into whether Worldcoin is following due legal process when collecting sensitive biometric information. The Kenyan government has even requested the suspension of Worldcoin operations in the country, citing concerns over the collection of sensitive information.

  • November 2022, Bavarian State Office for Data Protection (BayLDA) opens Worldcoin investigation in Germany

  • July 2023, UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) launches Worldcoin investigation

  • August 2023, Argentine Agency for Access to Public Information (AAIP) launches investigation into the legality of Worldcoin data collection

  • August 2023, Kenyan government establishes parliamentary committee to investigate Worldcoin and raids Worldcoin offices

  • September 2023, Portuguese Data Protection Agency (CNPD) launches Worldcoin investigation

  • September 2023, French Data Protection Agency (CNIL) launches investigation into Worldcoin's Paris office

Asian regulators and Worldcoin

In contrast to these developments in the West, there has been no substantial regulatory scrutiny regarding Worldcoin in Asia. This is likely due to the fact that Worldcoin does not yet officially operate in Asian countries or have previous criminal records. It is difficult for regulators to overhaul or reimpose restrictions on Worldcoin’s iris data collection based on mere suspicion alone. This is because sensitive information, such as biometric data, poses less of a problem in major Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Singapore, as long as it is used with explicit consent and for the stated purpose.

This may soon change. The number of users in Asia is steadily increasing, and Worldcoin is showing intentions to provide practical services to its users. Therefore, it is expected that the legality of data collection for Worldcoin will be investigated in Asian countries in the near future. Furthermore, there is a high probability that the results will reflect the result of the investigations in countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.

Conclusion

Biometric information is considered highly sensitive in the modern world, and even a single leak can cause serious problems. Hence, the current discussion on the collection and processing of personal data by Worldcoin is an important one and needs to be handled with care. The main concerns are as follows.

  1. The safety of the iris data collection machine, and the possibility of a backdoor

  2. Safety concerns regarding Worldcoin’s storage of iris data. To date, Worldcoin has stated that it is in compliance with the European privacy law GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). However, without a more specific explanation, the concerns are not expected to be put to rest easily.


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