Worldcoin Says Iris-Scanning Technology Linked to Digital Wallet to Be Given to Governments, Organizations

Ricardo Macieira, regional manager, Europe holds the biometric imaging device, the Orb of the identity and financial public utility Worldcoin, in Berlin, on Aug. 1, 2023. Annegret Hilse/Reuters

An identity and cryptocurrency company, recently co-founded by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, is scanning people’s irises to create an “identity and financial network,” according to a senior manager.

Worldcoin aims to create the biggest, global “financial and identity community that we can,” said Ricardo Macieira, general manager for Europe at “Tools For Humanity,” the San Francisco and Berlin-based company behind the project.