Just days after Singaporean authorities launched an inquiry into numerous persons for their involvement in Worldcoin, OpenAI's Sam Altman's contentious cryptocurrency project, the business insists it is not under investigation.
Singapore authorities are not investigating Worldcoin or Tools for Humanity, the firm informed The Defiant. "Individuals being investigated by authorities for possible violation of the Payment Services Act are not affiliated with Worldcoin or its operations in any way."
On September 9, Singapore's Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) chairman Gan Kim Yong told parliament: “The police are investigating seven subjects for their suspected involvement in offering Worldcoin accounts and tokens, which are offences under Payment Services Act 2019.”
“[P]ersons who buy or sell Worldcoin accounts and tokens as a business may be providing a payment service,” Yong said.
Germany, Kenya, and other countries have investigated Worldcoin.
Kenya's crypto project was reviewed by parliament last year, compelling CEO Alex Blania to testify. “For clarity, Worldcoin does not and never will involve the collection or selling of data,” Blania told legislators. “No one—not even Tools for Humanity—can link biometric data to World ID. Additionally, much of the technology's internal schematics and technical data are accessible online for study.
Blania's anodyne description of the initiative was criticized by several politicians as "a gang of criminals who are coming to harvest data from young people."
Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and National Administration Kithure Kindiki stated, “The government is concerned by the ongoing activities of an organization calling itself ‘Worldcoin,” which collects eyeball/iris data to register residents.
Privacy campaigners like Edward Snowden warned the firm not to "catalogue eyeballs."
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