Following the launch of the highly anticipated Worldcoin project on Monday, Hong Kong witnessed hundreds of sign ups, but the WLD token slightly pulled back.
How Worldcoin Kicked Off
On July 24, a digital identity verification provider called Worldcoin officially started the rollout of its services. The launch of the project was long-awaited in the crypto community and has been talked about since 2021.
Worldcoin was co-founded by ChatGPT creator Sam Altman and aims at using the blockchain technology to tackle some AI-related issues. The main platform’s product is World ID, sort of a “digital passport” that can prove that a user online is a real person and not a bot. To get a World ID, one needs to have their iris scanned by a company’s device called Orb at one of the offered locations.
So far, Worldcoin made their Orbs available in 35 cities across 20 different countries, with 124 open locations in total. According to the data of the first project’s day, the largest number of people visiting Orbs was registered in Hong Kong.
It was reported that around 600 people visited Orbs (200 per one of the three locations) in Hong Kong on Monday, with at least another 500 showing up on Tuesday. Heatherm Huang, co-founder of the Measurable Data Token blockchain firm, one of the three Orb operators in Hong Kong, said that nearly half of the total sign-ups for Worldcoin on Monday was recorded in Hong Kong. That means that around 1,000 people in total had their iris scanned by an Orb on the Worldcoin’s launch day.
Compared to the number of 2 million pre-signups for World ID which was achieved on July 13, 1,000 Orb visits on the opening day doesn’t seem like a lot, although it might be too early to draw any conclusions.
To encourage more users to register for World ID, the company even promised to give away 25 WLD (equivalent to around 60 USD at the time of writing) to anyone who visits an Orb. So, after getting their iris scanned, one can get both a World ID and 25 WLD in their World App wallet.
Worldcoin Faces Criticism
Despite all the perks and seemingly good intentions behind the project, Worldcoin has received its share of backlash lately. Many have expressed their concerns over the level of privacy and security World ID can offer.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin named four main risks related to the Worldcoin’s system, while the UK watchdogs said they would be “making further enquiries” regarding the project.
WLD Awaits a Catalyst to Gain Value
The WLD token started off at a price of $3.3 on Monday, dropped to $2.1 on the next day, and still hasn’t grown much since then. It looks like the coin needs a push to surpass its $3 mark again. WLD is currently trading at $2.33 according to CoinMarketCap.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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