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- Worldcoin will bring its eye-scanning operations to London on June 12 as part of its growing biometric identity expansion.
- The project already has 10M downloads and 300 mini apps, with more global launches planned.
Anyone in London this week is likely to be greeted by a slightly unusual piece of technology: an eyeball scanner. Not to enter a secret building, but to create a new digital identity. Worldcoin—a biometrics project founded by Sam Altman, the man behind OpenAI—will launch its operations in the British capital on June 12, 2025, according to Financial Times.
It also plans to open more iris scanning or Orb centers in other major cities like Manchester and Glasgow. The goal? Identifying humans amid the flood of bots and artificial intelligence in the digital world.
The move comes shortly after World began a major expansion in the United States. In late May, it opened its flagship store in San Francisco, while also introducing its Orb technology—an iris scanner—to six other cities across the US.
At one point, the device even caused long queues. But of course, not everyone was immediately enthusiastic. Some visitors openly voiced concerns about the security of biometric data. Understandably so. If our faces can be used for deepfakes, what about our irises?
From Apps to Orbs: Worldcoin’s Relentless Expansion Path
Worldcoin is indeed stepping on the gas. While other projects are still busy tinkering with their whitepapers, they have already launched more than 300 mini apps in the World ecosystem, backed by $12 million in funding. Their main application, the World App, has already reached 10 million downloads, and the momentum is not stopping.
Recently, according to a CNF report, the World Foundation and Tools For Humanity launched World Build 2.0, an advanced version of the app development campaign that was a huge success earlier this year.
London was chosen as the next launch location for a reason. The high internet penetration rate and the daily interaction of British people with AI are their main attractions. On the other hand, this city is also considered suitable as a test for expansion into Europe, although there is one big challenge: regulators.
There have been loud voices from Europe, including from Germany, Spain, and Portugal, questioning the legality and ethics of biometric data processing. The UK has not escaped attention either. Although Worldcoin claims that iris data is not stored centrally and is only processed on the user’s device, the feeling of trepidation is still hard to shake.
When Identity Meets Eyeballs, Doubts Naturally Arise
In the middle of the onslaught of AI that is increasingly adept at imitating humans, the idea of distinguishing humans from bots sounds reasonable. But yes, if the method is to shine a spotlight on someone’s eyeballs in the middle of the city center, it certainly raises questions. Especially with the long history of data breaches that have haunted many previous technology projects.
However, Worldcoin’s approach is actually intriguing. They don’t just talk about vision, but are already moving in the field. They build, open stores, and invite developers to contribute directly through mini apps. Not only that, programs like World Build 2.0 show that they want this project to live not only from hype, but from community contributions.
Meanwhile, their token, WLD, currently has a market cap of around $1.80 billion and has seen a rise of around 55% in the past two months, changing hands at about $1.11.
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