Altman claims that the system is secure, and that user data will not be stored by the company. Each picture of an iris will become a digital code called IrisHash. This code will be stored in Worldcoins' database to prevent future IrisHashes. It will also be used to deny coins to known users. The pictures will be deleted from the database. Altman states that we take a photo of your iris, we don't store it, and we calculate a code using it. The code is then uploaded to Worldcoins database, but the image is never stored. We don't know anything more about you than the image.
According to Worldcoin's promotional material, the company is currently running a pilot. It involves about 30 Orbs from different countries and stores a lot data. This includes images of faces, eyes, bodies and scans of their three-dimensional scans. We wouldn't be able fair and inclusively distribute a share of Worldcoin without it. We can't wait to stop collecting it, and we want it to be clear that it won't be our business to ever sell your personal data. This is Worldcoin's field testing phase. The images are being taken to improve the fraud detection algorithms in the Orbs. This phase will continue through early 2022. Once the algorithms have been fully trained, the data will be deleted.
Alex Blania, who cofounded the company alongside Altman and Max Novendstern, explains that the Orb system allows for beneficial incentive-alignments. Not only will people be enticed by the prospect of getting something for free, but an army of Orb Operators will be actively recruiting them in order to get their rewards. According to a job posting on a Kenyan job board, Worldcoin is hiring people to recruit Orb Operators.
Worldcoin will continue to distribute the Orbs and kick out operators who try to manipulate the devices to extract unwarranted benefits (for example, scanning someone twice). Orb Operators could stealthily scan the iris of clueless people to get their rewards. Blania claims that the company is currently testing fraud detection systems. However, he can't be very specific. The company could use metrics like whether the user has claimed the Worldcoin, or made any transactions, to detect suspicious behavior and catch shady Orb-ers.
More than 130,000 people have claimed their Worldcoins60,000 during the pilot. The project has so far used 30 Orbs owned by 25 entrepreneurs from various countries including France, Chile, Indonesia, Sudan, Sudan and Indonesia. Blania estimates that new Orbs can be produced at 50,000 per year. This number is the basis for the projection of 1 billion users.
The launch date of the actual coin, which will be available as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum blockchain, is not yet known. According to a source familiar with the matter, a launch is expected in early 2022. Altman believes that this launch will only be the beginning of a grand social experiment about networks and a rehearsal for future UBI ambitions. He says that if you want to do an experiment, then you first do one thing. Then you learn, and you'll find out all kinds of things about the work here and how we can improve it. You will find many ways to make something like this closer to a UBI.
