Worldcoin wants to give everyone an (almost) unconditional basic income. The only requirement: a scan of your own iris.
An iris scanner the size of a basketball should enable a global, unconditional basic income. This is not the blurb of a sci-fi dime, but the vision of Worldcoin, Sam Altman’s new project. Altman is CEO of AI company OpenAI and has also previously served as President of Y Combinator, an incubator for crypto startups in Silicon Valley. It was there that he also established contacts with the companies that have supported Worldcoin with USD 25 million so far. The US news portal has that and more Bloomberg figured out what finally moved Sam Altman to opposite Bloomberg to chat out of the Worldcoin sewing box.
I was very interested in things like the universal basic income and what will happen to global wealth redistribution and how we can do it better. Is there a way we can use technology to do that on a global scale?
The idea to do the whole thing with the help of a cryptocurrency came to him at the end of 2019. However, the Worldcoin co-founder emphasizes that he is primarily involved in the project through his start-up financing. The operative business is incumbent on Alexander Blania, who is also attending Bloomberg has given.
Iris scans for redistribution
Every iris is unique. It is therefore suitable as a biometric distinguishing feature, on the basis of which digital ID cards can also be created. Worldcoin envisions a kind of global identification number that is unique for every human being. The iris scans are said to be done using a portable and spherical device. In this way the basis for a global basic income is to be created. Especially those without bank access – in some regions more rule than exception – should be able to benefit from Worldcoin.
The project is of course still in its infancy. How Bloomberg writes, 20 units of a prototype for the iris scanner are already in circulation – “around the world”, they say. Volunteers can have their irises scanned and receive a crypto reward in return. However, the Worldcoin itself is not yet ready for use. The project is currently still mostly paying the volunteers in Bitcoin.
Vitamin B could make Worldcoin interesting
The ambitious project, to put it mildly, would have fitted perfectly into the era of the ICO boom at the end of 2017. Here, too, projects with outrageous promises of heaven – often without even having the intention of delivering. What sets Worldcoin apart from the ICO corpses, however, are its investors. This should include big names such as Coinbase and the investment giant Andreessen Horowitz. The latter recently launched its largest crypto fund to date. Investors have not yet commented on their Worldcoin exposure. Also to that Project there is hardly any information itself. If what we know so far is confirmed, then Worldcoin’s use case will indeed provide the material for a sci-fi novel. The only question is whether it then deals with a utopia or a dystopia.