Worldcoin Foundation, the organization behind the digital asset protocol developed by OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, said on Friday that it is open-sourcing “core components” of its Orb technology. In a move meant to foster trust and collaborative development, Worldcoin says anyone can examine the code for its Orb eye scanners.
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“Open sourcing typically helps to foster trust, transparency and verifiability while also encouraging developer communities to further advance a technology,” a Worldcoin spokesperson told Decrypt. “This builds on the open sourcing of the iris code last late last year and opening up of the hardware nearly a year ago.”
Worldcoin is a crypto project separate from OpenAI, intended to establish a global identification standard that proves “personhood” to combat bots. Altman and Alex Blania launched it in January 2023 as Tools for Humanity. In July, Worldcoin launched its WLD token on the Optimism mainnet.
Worldcoin’s Orb scans the irises of users to provide a unique “fingerprint,” the IrisCode, which is stored on Worldcoin’s blockchain. This scan forms the basis of a WorldID linked to the user.
Worldcoin has faced controversy over its eye-scanning technology, offering its WLD token in exchange for users letting the company scan their biometric data with the Orb. Security has been another concern, highlighted by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in a post.
“If even one Orb manufacturer is malicious or hacked, it can generate an unlimited number of fake iris scan hashes and give them World IDs,” Buterin warned.
The foundation said user privacy is a top priority.
“Privacy and security have always been top priorities when building the Orb,” Worldcoin said in its announcement. “Further audits are underway and, combined with open sourcing, reflect the Foundation’s aim to maintain a continuously high level of transparency around privacy and security.”
In February, blockchain-based esports platform Community Gaming said it would use Worldcoin’s WorldID to root out cheaters. Community Gaming clarified that the Worldcoin Orb is unnecessary for the company’s WorldID integration.
Following the Orb news, Worldcoin’s WLD cryptocurrency rose nearly 4% to $8.40—amid variability as large as 10% within the past 24 hours due to the wave of volatility currently hitting the broader cryptocurrency market.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
